


A World Alone

by leoxxii



Series: Subnautica: Survivors [3]
Category: Subnautica (Video Game), Subnautica: below zero (video game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Confessions, Death Threats, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Mild Gore, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Panic Attacks, Psychological Trauma, Sensory Overload, of both the love kind and the witnessed murder kind, shit gets real
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 59,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23412712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leoxxii/pseuds/leoxxii
Summary: "Surface temperature is- thirty six below zero.Welcome to 4546B.Enjoy your stay."
Relationships: Avery Quinn/Ryley Robinson/Bart Torgal, Berkeley/Yu (Subnautica) (Implied), Danby/Ozzy (Subnautica), Keen/Jochi Khasar
Series: Subnautica: Survivors [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1332170
Comments: 56
Kudos: 91





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's back with another 20+ chapter subnautica fanfic?? ITS ME!!! IM CLOWNING OUT AGAIN YALL!!!!

Bart opens his eyes, and is instantly greeted with a blinding green light. He closes his eyes, and turns away. Or at least, he _tries_ to turn away. His limbs all feel heavy, and none of his muscles seem to be cooperating with him.

For a moment, panic strikes through him, as his head runs through ideas of what's happened to him, before he hears a voice.

_"Who are you?"_

Bart squints open his eyes again, but can't see any sign of the origin of the sound. He tries to answer, but can't open his jaw, and the words get stuck in his throat.

There's a beat of silence.

_"You are human."_ The voice states, as if it's sure of itself. _"There should not be humans here."_

Bart struggles to get himself to breath. His lungs seem oddly slow, almost as if he were sleeping. Was he sleeping?

_"How did you get here?"_ The voice asks, and waits for an answer. After the silence hangs, it continues, _"How are you able to hear me? The others cannot hear me."_

_Others?_ Bart thinks. _What others?_ There were no 'others', were there? There certainly weren't others on the Crater.

_"Other humans will search for you, will they not? You live in groups. They want their group members to stay with them. Humans do not like when their groups leave."_

Bart thinks the voice sounds almost like it didn't know much about humans. Was it another creature that originated here, like the Emperor?

_"Do not let more humans come here. They will die."_

It sounded almost… scared. Worried. Bart wonders how it's so sure. Bart wonders if maybe lots of people have been on this planet. If they all crashed, if they all died. If it's been so long that there's no sign of them left. If they never had a chance to leave signs at all.

There's a sudden image stuck in his head, of a large ship hurtling towards the planet. Bart recognizes the two islands on the water. He sees lifepods leaving the ship, but no more than 30 could possibly have left. It seems like nothing when compared to the size of the ship; it must have had a large crew.

Then he sees just one lifepod, floating above the water. He strains his eyes, tries to look around, but sees nothing more than the one. Smoke arises from it.

_"They will give you what you need. There will not be many of them."_

_This is going to happen?_

_"I do not know how it will end, for you or for them. But you must not allow more to come. You must save this planet. We did not succeed when we tried."_

_Who are you? What were you trying to do?_ Bart finds himself questioning. The voice doesn't seem to hear his thoughts. If it does, it's ignoring them.

_"They will be here one day. I do not know when. Do not fail. You cannot afford to."_

The voice starts to fade, and the numbness starts to leave his fingers.

_Wait!_ Bart tries to call, but he still can't get any words out, and it doesn't seem to hear him still. _What am I supposed to do!?_

Bart awakes with a sharp intake of air, and quickly stumbles to his legs. Without much thought, he leaves his base, and steps out onto the sand.

He looks up at the ancient building, looming over even the mountain on the island. Bart is certain that it was what shot down the Degasi, what left him stranded here. Left him alone.

It was going to shoot down another ship. With _more_ people onboard it. And he currently was helpless to stop it.

Anxious, and head and heart aching from the sudden weight on his shoulders, Bart finds himself wishing his father and Marguerit were still here.

* * *

Ryley awakes with a start, his head racing. The sudden ability to move again almost makes it feel weird to be able to at all.

"Ryley?" A voice softly speaks up, and Ryley glances up to see Bart sitting on a bench on the other side of the room, seemingly writing something on a PDA moments before. "Are you alright?"

Ryley takes a deep breath, and thinks over the question for a short moment, before nodding. "I think I had another one of those vision things," He admits. His mind whirls with questions.

"Another vision?" Bart asks, and sets his PDA aside, and hesitates for a second before continuing, "But the Emperor… they can't send us visions anymore, surely?"

Ryley nods, and recalls the voice he'd heard, "I don't think it was the Emperor," he says. "It… there was someone talking, and it wasn't a voice I'd ever heard before."

Ryley pauses for a moment, before continuing, "I think it was about you."

"Me?" Bart blinks. "What do you mean? What happened?"

Ryley recounts the dream, and explains what he saw. "It was like I _was_ you, even after the vision version of you woke up," he finishes. "But all of that already happened,"

The vision seemed to be about the Kharra, and the Aurora crashing. That's what Ryley made out of it, anyways. What was he missing? Why was he having the exact same dream Bart had years ago?

Bart is quiet for a few moments, and he looks like he's thinking. Then he hums, and stands up.

Ryley watches him. "You know what it means, don't you?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about it," Bart answers, and with a bit more sadness in his voice, "I thought about the Aurora a lot, honestly. If I had worked faster…" He trails off, and shakes his head, as if it would clear his emotions away.

Ryley empathizes with the guilt, even though he knows there was nothing any of them could have done to prevent the Aurora crashing.

"I have a theory, but I can't say for certain if it's true," Bart continues. "I think that this one vision comes from something outside the Crater. I think there might be others elsewhere, on some other liveable part of the planet."

There's a hopeful glint in his eyes, and Ryley can already guess the two he's thinking about. He has to wonder what the chances of them still being alive are - but he really hopes that that hope is right.

"More Emperors?" Ryley asks, and Bart shakes his head.

"I doubt it. It's possible, but I have a feeling it's something else."

Ryley thinks over what Bart's told him, and then his mind is set. "We need to find what sent it." Bart blinks, and opens his mouth. Ryley interrupts before he gets the chance to say something.

"There's gotta be a reason why it sent the same thing again now, right? We need to find out why."

Bart hesitates, "As much as I agree, how would we get past the dead zone? And we'd need everyone else to also want to go. We can't just leave without them."

"I'm sure we can figure it out," Ryley tells him, "And everyone would follow us if we told them why. They'd probably follow us _without_ a reason."

Bart hums, but doesn't disagree. He knows Ryley's probably right.

"We need to leave the Crater," Ryley insists.

_Do not fail._ The words echo in Ryley's head. _You cannot afford to._

_We won't._ Ryley promises, silently to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehehe,,,,,sector zero time babey!!!!!!!
> 
> i was trying to upload this at 4:20 but i am literally like 30 seconds too late bc i was getting food :(  
> anyways happy 4/20/2020 everyone akfbkshroshrkhsjrh


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOD I AM SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG AAAAA
> 
> i have had an awful past couple weeks. just in general this has been a pretty bad year for me even without the whole "being stuck inside and slowly spiraling with utter lack of structure or routine" so uh. yeah. there wasnt much motivating me to write and i just wasn't feeling up to writing. i just felt too guilty for leaving this fic for this long so i forced myself to just get up and finish the chap akrjajbrks
> 
> chapters are probably gonna end up releasing every 2-3 weeks instead of my usual once a week for a while if not during the entire duration of the fic. once again im so sorry but working on this slowly is the best i can do right now. sorry for any inconvenience :(

Ryley's awake early the next morning. He sits on the beach, before the sun has risen, the breeze colder than he remembers it usually being.

He finds himself staring at the Aurora, off in the distance. The fires finally burned themselves out, and the smoke dissipated. Seeing the ship now felt… strange. Ryley couldn't exactly describe it. He likes this planet - he doesn't regret coming here. But he still feels grief remembering everyone, and everything that happened.

His mind flickers to Micah and Beatrix. He shakes his head, as if it would clear his thoughts.

He turns his head away, and watches the sun rise over the horizon. He remembers what Bart said, about the possibility of something beyond the crater. He itches to find out if he's right.

 _"You want to leave this place,"_ a voice in his head speaks, sounding almost sad, and a moment later Ryley can see the outline of a Sea Emperor under the water. Their head turns to look at him for a second, before they turn away again to avoid running into the island.

"Not for forever," he replies. "We'll come back."

Of course they'd come back. The crater was home now. How could he stand to leave it behind? Bart seemed especially attached to this place.

 _"You can't know that for sure. You simply wish to return."_ The Emperor - one that Milo affectionately named Boo - responds. _"What if something happens to you while you're gone?"_

Ryley smiles, but the suggestion genuinely scares him. They might not be able to cross the void at all, let alone survive whatever else might be out there.

It really wasn't a well thought out plan at all. Ryley tries to stop himself from thinking too much about that, because then he'd start to doubt this decision, and he _knows_ he wants to explore beyond the crater.

"We'll be fine, I'm sure. We've lived through a lot worse already!"

_"That is a matter of opinion!"_

Ryley laughs at that. "You could always come with us, you know."

Boo had already declined the journey, but Ryley almost hopes he can get them to change their mind. But, as he had expected, they don't.

_"One of us must remain here until we're sure the Kharra is completely gone. It saddens me to watch you leave, but I must stay."_

He understands the reasoning, but Ryley knows he'll miss them for a long while.

 _"You should start preparing for your journey if you wish to leave today. The others will start awakening soon."_ Boo tells him, and then his head falls silent again, and the Emperor starts to swim away from the shore. Ryley stays on the sand for a few more moments, and then gets to his feet and returns to the habitat.

They had a lot of work to do.

* * *

The sun starts to set again before Ryley allows himself a break longer than a few short minutes. His Seamoth was low on battery, and he ached with exhaustion.

"You've been busy today," Roman remarks onboard the Cyclops, as Ryley busies himself further with sorting each locker. Ryley hums in response, and without another word, Roman starts sorting the items alongside him.

Ryley thinks on that for a bit too long, because on the Aurora Roman never would have helped Ryley with anything, let alone a mundane task such as _sorting_. Now he does it just because he wants to. It bothers Ryley more than it probably should.

He's been thinking about the Aurora too much lately, he decides, yet he doesn't know how to stop.

Light fades fast on the planet, and it doesn't take long before the sun sets fully. Sometimes Ryley thinks the nights are longer than the days, but he knows that's probably unreasonable. He just loses track of the time too much.

The entire group of them had been working all day - mostly due to Ryley's insistence to leave as soon as possible - and truly, they _could_ probably leave right now. They have extra power, food and water to last for weeks, a growbed and aquarium in the Cyclops as well, just in case.

Sleeping would probably be a pain for a few days. There's only so much they can have in the submarine.

But they would manage. Ryley's sure of it. Sleeping on the floor was the least of their worries. Ryley would gladly give up his turns on the bed just to apologize for dragging everyone else out with him.

They could leave right then and there, if they wanted to. They would if Ryley asked them to.

There's a strange feeling in Ryley's gut, telling him they _need_ to leave now. Telling him there's a _reason_ he had that dream, that he _needs_ to find out what that reason is. He needs to know as soon as he possibly can. He needs to _leave._

Instead, he tries to swallow down the sudden panic overwhelming him. He leaves the Cyclops lights off, and returns to the habitat. They could leave tonight, but Ryley can wait for tomorrow.

It would be easier to travel with sunlight anyway.

* * *

The sun had risen hours ago before the group finally gathers in the Cyclops.

Ryley already feels restless, and finally starts to question the strangely urgent feeling pulling him onward. He was told not to fail - but so had Bart, and Bart must have had the dream _years_ ago. It couldn't be _too_ urgent. Especially not if the both of them had only been told once each.

He can't stop himself from feeling like something terrible will happen if he doesn't start hurrying _now._ Even after telling himself that everything would be fine, and stop freaking everyone out, and _calm down for just a minute, you've barely slept in two days, just stop and breath -_

The Cyclops feels too slow, and his heart feels too fast. He can't do much about either. He paces the submarine, and thinks it's much smaller than he remembers.

Most of the others don't pay him too much attention. The entire lot of them seem to be rather anxious more often than not. Someone pacing around isn't out of the ordinary.

Avery watches him more than anyone else, and there's a worried glint in his eye and an emotion that Ryley can't quite read.

There's two Sea Emperors on either side of the Cyclops. The hatchlings had already decided to travel to spread the enzyme faster before Ryley practically demanded the group leave the crater; the two travel with each other instead of alone mostly just to help protect the Cyclops from other leviathans.

Ryley remembers Bart telling him once that the Ghosts leave the crater as they grow older, because they seemingly never stop growing as long as they find enough food. He wonders if the Emperors would even be able to defend the ship if they needed to.

The thought makes him start to question the dream again. Makes him think that maybe he's decided on all this much too fast, that maybe too much is happening too quickly and they should have thought this through more, should have prepared more, he should have done _more._

Ryley keeps pacing.

And eventually, the water seems to almost suddenly become much darker, and the sounds of the ocean fall silent. Ryley notices Bart become tense, and start fidgeting.

"Last chance to turn back, everyone," Bart murmurs, almost like he _wants_ someone to object.

Ozzy hums, their gaze flickering to observe outside the glass, despite the darkness surely making it impossible to see anything at all. They don't say anything aloud however, if they had started developing doubts.

Avery nudges Bart in what appears to be an attempt to comfort, and Bart leans into the touch. Ryley smiles, almost subconsciously, at the interaction.

Nobody else voices any complaints. And with no current threats, they continue onwards. 

Only a couple minutes pass before Ryley hears a distant screech, and freezes in his pacing. He tries to figure out where the hell _that_ noise came from, and one of the Emperors interrupts his thoughts.

 _"We will be able to communicate with them. They will not be hostile or aggressive towards you, so don't fret."_ Mariana tells him.

And yeah, that makes sense. The Emperors could make even a Reaper friendly, the two of them could handle a single Ghost leviathan. It doesn't stop Ryley from feeling unsettled knowing there's one nearby.

He's so occupied with listening out for that one, that when only a few moments later there's the sound of something approaching, he almost doesn't notice.

Then he glances out the glass window, and out of the pitch blackness a glowing blue tail-tip passes by.

 _"It will not attack,"_ Mariana repeats, and they must have spoken it to everyone, because Emily and Milo glance at each with a confused look. Was Ryley the only one who noticed it?

Barely a minute later, he sees the tail again, and this time he's definitely not the only one, as Ozzy loudly curses at it. The leviathan doesn't immediately swim off like before, and the Cyclops hovers just close enough for Ryley to realize just how massive this leviathan was compared to the adults in the crater.

Ryley hears Danby murmuring something soothing to Ozzy, but doesn't care to focus on the words. Instead, he watches as the Cyclops propels over the leviathan, until eventually they pass over the creature, who seemed to have slowed down to watch the Cyclops.

"Just a quick question," Emily starts, interrupting the quiet, laughing nervously, "how many more of those things are there going to be?"

Nobody answers. Ryley looks to Bart, expects _something_ at least _vague_ about it from him, but he stays silent with nothing more than a shrug.

A seedling of doubt in this journey starts to grow in Ryley's stomach.

* * *

A week passes. Ryley hasn't had any other dreams - which Bart seems to think is fine and normal, but it bugs Ryley for some reason. That wasn't really what was concerning him at the moment, however. It simply added to the list of worries gnawing at him.

There had been no change in the journey since they started. No new animals, no new scenery, no new weather - _nothing._ Nothing had changed at all. It didn't seem at all like they had been piloting a submarine steadily in the same direction for a week straight.

It barely felt like they'd made any progress at all.

What if there _wasn't_ something beyond the crater? What if it was so far away they couldn't possibly be able to make it all the way there? What if they get stranded out here?

None of them seemed to acknowledge it, but they definitely did not pack enough food for more than another week. The single growbed wouldn't manage to feed all nine of them for long. Was it too late to build another one?

Ryley wonders how much longer they'll be driving. He asks one of the Emperors, but they don't know either. Which Ryley reasons made sense - they'd never been beyond the crater before, how _would_ they know?

He still hopes it's not too much longer before they find whatever Ryley's convinced himself exists out there. They can't last out in the middle of nothing forever.

His mind quickly flickers to the terrible idea of this being the worst idea he's had yet, that this might be a huge misunderstanding and he's doomed them all to die out here.

He tries to ignore it. The mere thought makes his heart swell with grief and regret. 

This must be the right decision.

It gets to the point where they have no chance of turning back, because they'd never make it back with what little they have left. Ryley wishes he let them prepare longer.

Right around the time he starts to lose all faith in himself, one of the Emperor's speaks up, for the first time in what feels like a long time.

_"There is something ahead. It is not leviathan nor microscopic."_

Ryley's heart lifts a bit. _'Someplace like the crater?'_

_"If there is life, then it likely is similar. Don't get too excited yet, however. We are still going to swim for a while longer."_

He glances at Bart, who seems to be ignoring the last part of what the Emperor said.

"I _knew it,"_ Bart says, even though he sounds a bit like he's in disbelief, "I knew there was something beyond the crater! What do you think it looks like? Maybe there's more land. Do you think parts of the Aurora could have drifted all the way out here? It was a large ship - maybe there's more Emperors!"

Bart paces back and forth, talking almost to himself, never pausing for any inputs from anyone else. Jochi rolls his eyes, but he smiles with a mix of fondness and affection in his gaze.

Ryley looks out the window, and wonders how much farther it could possibly be if the Emperors could detect something. He can't imagine they're too much farther from whatever it is they found.

Ryley finds that his anxieties are finally put at ease, and he can breath again. He thinks back to his dream - vision? - and considers the words once again. He's had a lot of time to think them over.

The first thing he's going to do is try to find more signs of the Precursors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALSO SORRY THE PACING ON THIS IS KINDA WEIRD!! i cut out a bit of what i originally wanted (this was supposed to be like. the longest chapter in the fic lol) to be able to write it in any sort of slightly reasonable amount of time. the rest of the chapters should be better since theyre supposed to be shorter anyways and this one was mostly just getting everything set up still so its a bit boring to write and probably a bit boring to read.
> 
> I MIGHT BE MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF THIS FOR NO REASON. IT MIGHT BE PERFECTLY FINE. idk ive always been harsh on myself. OK IM TALKING TOO MUCH IM JUST GONNA POST THE CHAPTER NOW OK THANKS BYE SEE U LATER EVERYONE HAVE A GOOD DAY!! THANK YOU FOR READING EVEN THO U DIDNT HAVE TO!!! qwq


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyyy so ive been taking a short break from. most of the things in my day to day life tbh. which includes social media. so this chapter got delayed a bit! i had originally planned to return from break today, but uhhh a lot of stuff popped up during the past like 2 weeks and now im even more stressed. i do love writing a whole lot tho and it helps to just. write about the things i enjoy! so im gonna keep writing whenever im up to it and try to post the completed chapters, although as mentioned b4 they r gonna be kinda slow. um so thats why this chapter took like a month lol. ive been on ao3 like twice the past three weeks. so yeah thats the little update! this fanfic is still in development i have not forgotten about it!! i have not abandoned it!! 
> 
> ok thats a lot of text im realizing so thank u for reading my author notes despite them always being me just talking about random junk or shitposting!!! it means a lot im heart eyes,,,,  
> ok heres ur chapter babes!! i cant put my meme emojis im on a laptop :(

Only another day slowly passes before the endless stretch of nothing below or in front of them finally ends. It's only just light enough to make out the slope of the cliff edge as the Cyclops passes over it.

Ryley glances over at Bart, who smiles at him, and Ryley's heart skips a beat seeing the pure joy on his face. He quickly turns away in an attempt to hide his definitely-too-telling expression.

There's a small static noise in the back of Ryley's head, but it disappears almost as quickly as he notices it. He ponders over it for a few moments, before being dragged back into reality.

He doesn't immediately see any sign of life, but simply seeing the ground again makes him feel better. The Emperors knew that something was here, at least, and as long as it wasn't another leviathan that decided something as small as the lot of them was worth the trouble of chasing after, he'd be fine with whatever it was that did live here.

He wonders how similar any of it would be to the crater - he wonders if there's anything like the Sand Sharks, or the giant mushroom forests. He wonders if there's expanses of empty seafloor, devoid of almost anything but sand and whatever few creatures that somehow managed to survive there. He wonders if they're anything alike at all, or completely different.

Then his thoughts drift again, as they seem to so often do anymore, and he finds himself questioning how well they could survive here if it was nothing like the crater. Ryley feels like the only reason they managed so long there was because Bart knew the planet so well.

Without him, how much of a chance would most of them have had? There wasn't any person that knew these stretches of land, there wasn't anyone who knew exactly where to go to find whatever they needed at the time. They'd just have to guess everything, and hope their next footsteps didn't kill them.

He tries to convince himself that it couldn't possibly end up as bad as his mind is trying to convince him it will. Surely it'll all work out. They've all made it through so much already - how much worse could it get? They could handle it. Ryley decides that whatever this planet throws at him, he'll manage to walk away from it again. He has to.

The flat terrain quickly starts to change into large spires, black steam rising out of the tops. It reminds Ryley of the deep lava caves back in the crater - he almost feels nostalgic thinking on it, even though it had only been a few months since they first went down. It also wasn't a particularly pleasant experience. Ryley can't exactly place makes him long for the underwater volcano all of a sudden.

More plants come into view, some deep below, disappearing into darkness - some creating their own light and casting a blue glow to the environment. Vines hung off of the various branches shooting off of the spires. Small fish swam idly by the plants, some gathering near the steam and pecking at the water.

Beyond the fish, after only a few more moments of swimming by - the two Emperors chirping to some of the other creatures as they pass - a giant _something_ comes into view.

Ryley can't see the bottom of it, and it's not moving even slightly - but he's certain its something alive. There's clearly a skull of some kind. Well, he supposes it doesn't really look like _bone_ , so not a _skull_ per say, but it was certainly a head.

It was transparent, similar to the Ghost leviathans, and it looked like plants were growing inside it. It starkly reminds him of the crater - the rounded platforms inside and the translucent form feels like the forests of giant mushrooms they had encountered. He feels burst of joy over his previous prediction being right.

Then Ryley thinks he's thinking of the crater too much for having been the one who wanted to start this journey to begin with.

But he supposes he can't help feeling reminded of something, either.

It doesn't even appear to be breathing as the Cyclops passes it, but Ryley keeps a careful eye on it - Ozzy and Roman seem to keep a keen gaze on the strange creature as well, until it eventually cuts out of view.

_"We are safe here,"_ Boo says, as they slow at a ridge that seems to transition into a different area.

"We weren't before?" Ryley hears Jochi murmur under his breath, but neither the group nor the Emperors appear to take any acknowledgement of the question.

_"This stretch of land is empty. The ocean will not mind if you occupy it for the time being."_ They continue, _"Mariana and I shall explore further on our own while you rest."_

Mariana speaks of their own goodbye, and the two Emperors begin their slow swims off in opposite directions, leaving the Cyclops alone in the empty water.

The Emperors said it was safe - and Ryley trusts them to be right - but he feels unsettled _because_ of the lack of life. On the crater, open areas were usually not _actually_ empty - and Ryley's learned to beware those areas the most.

Bart seems significantly less concerned about being ambushed by a leviathan, and more concerned with how quickly he can build an observation room near one of the steam spires. He's already left the Cyclops with a bag full of materials by the time Ryley has time to think through what to do next.

Ryley hears - and watches - Avery and Jochi chase after him, seemingly sharing Ryley's concerns about how safe the area truly is. Another smile forms on his face, and he breathes just a little easier.

As the group begins to wade through building materials, Ryley glances out the window, and spots something he definitely hadn't seen before. It had fur, for one thing - since when did fish have _fur?_ \- and its head looked rather similar to a Stalker, if Ryley had to describe it. It was small, and paddled oddly through the water, so he guesses it was a juvenile of some kind as well.

It swims around and observes the Cyclops from a distance, and retreats a bit as it realizes Ryley can see it, but doesn't flee. Ryley watches it just as cautiously as it watches him.

He feels a pull to go closer. Which also concerns him. Because he's dealt with Mesmers, and he's not the only one of them to deal with Mesmers, and he's not going to swim out towards something he's never seen before after he suddenly decides he wants to get a closer look. That would be a _horrible_ decision.

And so, he excuses himself without anyone stopping him, and after a quick swim around the Cyclops swims slowly after the four legged creature.

The out of place animal spooks, and turns to swim away. Which was not something Mesmers ever did, to his knowledge, so he continues after it, swimming faster once it starts to disappear from sight.

It's not until he finds a patch of land, and a long stretch of snow before him as he stands with the sun setting behind him, does he realize just how far he swam. He doesn't have a PDA with him, and he didn't have any comm links, either. He can't contact anyone. He'd never find his way back in the dark.

Resigning himself to being stranded on the ice for the time being, Ryley follows the set of footsteps through the snow, determined to follow the animal he saw. He's not sure why. Now that he's had time to think it through more, he starts to doubt his decision making again.

He finds himself to be very, very cold, with very little chance of warmth anytime soon. It would be colder in the water, but it was already freezing out of it.

To make everything even better for him, snow starts to fall, and quickly the storm gets worse every few steps he takes. The footprints start to get covered by fresh layers of frost, and when he looks behind himself, he can't see his own tracks.

The sun had set almost a half hour ago, and he could barely see in front of himself even without the sudden blizzard.

He begins to panic.

_No_ , he was _fine_. He'd just wait for morning. The others will worry about him - god, Ozzy might kill him for this, if Roman didn't before them - but it'll be fine. The ice sheet can't be that large, he could find his way back eventually. Or he'd be found. Hopefully before anything not human does.

Movement out of the corner of his eye catches his attention. He tries squinting, and stills in an attempt to strain his ears for whatever it was. Maybe it was that... wolf-Stalker-thing? Ryley thinks it over for barely a second before he trudges through the quickly accumulating snow towards the area. He tries to keep track of the heartbeat and footsteps, as he trips through the darkness. He wishes he was underwater, with bioluminescent fish and plants to guide him, and no twigs for him to trip over.

He comes to a slow once he realizes he's hit a dead end, looking up at a mountain towering over him. The creature must have climbed up the rock. He looks around for a path, but of course there isn't one - and the snow and ice covers too much for him to even attempt to climb up after it, and there's certainly no safe way to climb it either.

He paces, trying to find anything at all to allow him to get by the mountain. Maybe he could go around? He peers into the distance, but can't see the end of the rock. He walks along the path, hoping it was just due to the dark, but as the seconds pass he still can't see the end, so he gives up. He looks back at the cliff wall, and blinks as he notices a hole that hadn't existed the few meters back where he first approached the mountain.

"That's convenient," he murmurs to himself, and well, he's come this far already - what's the worst that can happen at this point? So he approaches the tunnel entrance, and before he can develop any new doubts, walks through.

The tunnel is even darker than the night outside, but at least there's no snow, and nothing for him to trip on.

Well, _less_ things to trip on. He still stubs his foot against a stone. Or, he thinks it was a stone. He couldn't see it to confirm.

He begins to wonder if perhaps something lives in the cave, and he hesitates on his next step, pausing for a few moments. He can't hear anything, but he still feels on edge, and continues on with a bit more caution. Probably the amount he should have been using throughout the entire day.

The tunnel walls start to get narrower, until Ryley can feel the walls brushing against his arms. His ears pop as the tunnel starts to slope upwards. Ryley's glad it didn't take him further underground - for once this planet had something that didn't lead to going deeper into the ocean. It doesn't take long for the path to open up again, and he finally spots moonlight seeping into the cave. More than a little excited at getting out of the tunnel, his fluttering stomach calming down at the sight of open land, he quickens his pace.

He leaves the tunnel almost jogging, and the cold wind hitting him makes him stop, already have forgotten how harsh the blizzard was. He glances around, trying to relocate the wolf-Stalker, when he realizes the only other heartbeat he could hear was somewhere behind him.

As he turns his head, a rush of snow and rocks fall beside him, and he stumbles out of the way just in time to barely avoid being crushed, collapsing to the snow. He glances up to see something that is _definitely_ _not_ the wolf-Stalker and _definitely not_ a rock.

"What the hell?" He breathes, looking up at the PRAWN suit. It was too dark for him to make out a face, and before he could even try, the machine turns away from him, as if purposely trying to not let him figure it out. "Wait!" He says, louder, and to his surprise the suit actually pauses.

"Why is Alterra here?" A voice from within the suit asks, their voice harsh. The voice sounded altered in some way - much too robotic to be their actual voice. New models of the suit had a voice modifier - Ryley can't guess as to _why_ \- but they didn't have any of them onboard the Aurora. How could this suit have it?

He suddenly remembers he was asked a question, and struggles to form an answer. "They-they aren't. There's only a couple of us here because our ship crashed - you aren't Alterran? Who are you? How'd you get here?" He pauses. "How'd you get a PRAWN suit?"

The suit scoffs, "There's a hell of a lot more than a couple of you last I heard. Alterra sent you, and they sent you for a reason."

Ryley blinks. "That doesn't answer any of my questions."

"It wasn't supposed to." The suit snaps back, turning back towards him slightly. Ryley notices one of the arms had a large tooth from something strapped to it, and keeps an anxious gaze on it. "You were following me."

"I was?" Ryley blinks, not entirely meaning to ask aloud - how did he not notice he was following a _PRAWN suit?_ "I uh," He continues, before the owner of the suit could yell at him more, "I thought I was following a... thing that kind of looked like a dog."

Silence follows, and Ryley is half convinced the PRAWN suit owner might just actually kill him if he doesn't turn this interaction into a more favorable one. What the hell would make this person trust him?

They asked what Alterra was doing here. Ryley could answer that.

"I'm from the Aurora - we crashed on a different side of the planet. Alterra sent us to look for another ship that crashed here." He pauses, "Most of us died...within the first day. Couple hours, I guess - the rest of us only got to this-" Other crater? Was it even a crater? "-arctic place today. I didn't think anyone was even here - were you _watching_ us?"

The suit is quiet for only a second. "I met some of you Alterran's weeks ago. One of you's been chasing after me for days. Next time I see one of you, I won't let you walk away. Better tell that girl that," They snarl bitterly, before turning away again, and finally walking away. Ryley quickly stumbles to his feet.

"Wait! What girl? The Aurora was the only ship sent by Alterra! None of us were here weeks ago!"

"Leave me alone!" The suit barks, and then jumps further down the mountain. Ryley tries to follow it for a few moments, before realizing how bad of an idea following after them might be, seeing their reaction to him. Maybe he should just leave them alone. For now, at least - he still had a lot of questions he would like answered.

But his mind nags at him, wondering who that person could possibly be if not from the Aurora. The PRAWN suit wasn't on the Aurora, and the Sunbeam and Degasi didn't bring any. They didn't even have the blueprints for any. Not the mention that everyone else from the Sunbeam and Degasi had died.

His mind floats back to the others they had mentioned. He glances back at the tunnel he walked through, and trudges back inside to not have to deal with the wind. It was only a bit warmer inside. Did Alterra send another ship? Why? It couldn't have had a small crew, judging by what the suit owner told him. They couldn't have sent even more people out here, right? After three ships were destroyed and hundreds were killed? They wouldn't have sent another ship. Not to mention the fact that they had shut down the enforcement platform, so another ship _couldn't_ have been shot down.

He thinks it over for way longer than he probably should have. They had to have been wrong. They were confused, they had to be - there couldn't been even more people here now. There couldn't be more stuck on this planet. They all worked so hard, worked fast enough it nearly killed them all multiple times - to get a cure and stop more deaths. They _couldn't_ have been just a few days too late. Ryley refuses to believe it.

But then, who was in that PRAWN suit, if not someone from the Aurora? It couldn't have been a Sunbeam member - Avery was the only one of them left. Bart was the last of the Degasi. Someone from a ship before even the Degasi? How long ago did they crash? It had to have been more than ten years ago. Why would they be so adverse to him then, if he was the first person they'd seen in more than a decade? What did Alterra do to them?

He starts to give himself a headache, his thoughts racing all too much for him to deal with.

So he waits in the cave for morning, and slowly drifts to sleep in his exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank yall for reading and leaving comments as always!! it means so so much to me and im filled with emotions just knowing ppl enjoy my work enough to be keeping up with any of it, let alone a sequel to smth,,,,THANK U BABES,,,,,
> 
> ALSO THIS WAS ALL EDITED IN LIKE 30 MINUTES BY MYSELF ONLY SO IF THERES MISTAKES I APOLOGIZE. I WAS TRYING A NEW THING AND THERE WERE A LOT OF TYPOS I MIGHT NOT HAVE CAUGHT THEM ALL. its good enough i hope!! :o


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive been playing a lot of subnautica again recently and got rlly inspired to finally finish this chapter! it got way longer than i planned so ya'll getting a treat this chapter!! unless u don't like long chapters in which case the next one is probably gonna be really short so hang on until then!! thank u all fo reading once again i love u all have a good day/night,, <3

Ryley dreams of the Emperor that night.

He sees them in their all too small aquarium, swimming in circles with little other options of anything to do. He sees the eggs, still in their incubator, still unhatched. He waits, half-expecting something to happen; something seems to always happen in his dreams anymore. But instead, it just goes on and on, time stretching more and more until Ryley feels himself wishing to wake up, just to be rid of the endless swimming in silence. He hates this feeling. Of waiting for something to happen, and being completely unable to do anything to help.

He gets that feeling an awful lot anymore.

Finally, he hears a voice.

_"I realize our mistakes now,"_

The voice is familiar, but not the Emperor's. Not any of the Emperors'. Ryley tries to remember why he knows it.

_"At one point, I had thought this planet was doomed. I am happy to see that I was wrong."_

Ryley finally recognizes the voice - the one who asked him to go past the crater edge! He finds himself more than a little relieved to know he could indeed still communicate with whatever it is.

_"There is still work to be done. I am grateful you acted quickly following my message. The other human did not seem to hear me as well. Or perhaps he simply could do nothing with what time he had."_ There's a moment of silence, Ryley desperately trying to say anything back, his throat not allowing any words to escape. _"I wonder if that is how they felt, when we could not hear them?"_ Ryley glances back at the Emperor, and Ryley thinks they looked a lot younger than they did in real life. Less tired, maybe. How long ago did this happen? How long were they trapped here?

_'What are we supposed to do?'_ Ryley tries asking, tries anything to get whatever is talking to him to hear. But his questions are still ignored.

_"It is very difficult to communicate with you in this way. I think I shall be silent for now. You will figure everything out without me explaining. You humans are more intelligent than I had previously thought."_ Ryley could almost laugh at the fact they thought they were smart - the group of them barely survived as is and just happened to solve most of their problems on complete accident. How was _he_ supposed to know what they wanted?

But the voice fades out, and Ryley is left staring at the Emperor in silence again.

He watches her swim, and swim, and _swim,_ for what feels like _hours._

* * *

Ryley wakes up feeling cold, hungry, and just as tired as before he fell asleep.

He glances outside the tunnel walls to see the sun just beginning to rise. He really would prefer to just lay there for a good while longer, but the list of reasons why that was a bad idea was long enough he couldn't possibly name them all. So with a considerable amount of effort, he lifts himself to his feet, and heads back down the tunnel to the bottom of the mountain.

As he walks, he considers how long he'd been outside. He can't feel his fingertips, or his nose - and everything else feels either like his bones had froze or like he was burning next to the lava pools at the deepest parts of the crater. None of that could be anything other than a very bad sign. A twinge of anxiety worms itself into his stomach again, and he tries to walk just a bit faster, but trips and nearly collapses. Taking each step as it is was incredibly difficult, so he decides to continue at his all-too slow pace, despite wanting to do anything else than stall being out in the snow any longer.

He finally sees sunlight again, and steps out into even harsher cold and bitter wind. Snow was still falling, although it wasn't near the same scale as the blizzard the day prior. The snow had piled up to his knees overnight, and he reconsiders the decision to try to walk back. He can barely walk without the extra weight of snow sticking to his legs.

_I can't give up now_ , he silently tells himself. At the same time, he's never been so certain he just might die that day. The realization fuels his determination to continue struggling forward, despite his exhaustion and panic.

He takes another few slow steps, and pauses, turning his head up to one of the many looming cliffs and mountains.

He just manages to make out two silhouettes. He can't make out what they were, and there was no apparent movement at all - just complete stillness. Ryley thinks it almost looks like people - and attempts to call to them, even though he's certain that if the shapes were something alive, they'd have noticed him by now.

Yet, when he opens his mouth, all the sounds get stuck in his throat, and he doesn't make any noise at all, let alone a call loud enough for them to hear him from all the way up the mountain side.

_I can't fail_ , he tells himself, _I can't fail._

The silhouettes seem to stare down at him.

_"Ryley!"_

Turning his head again drains much more energy than it probably should have, but at least he can manage to at all. Not that that was an achievement.

Before he has much time to process it, he's surrounded by voices that all hurt his ears as if they were yelling directly in them, and he winces from the noise. After a moment, Ryley finally manages to focus in on the person in front of him.

"What the _hell was_ _that?!"_ Ozzy snaps, although they're shaking, and there's a terrified look in their eyes. "We've been looking for you for _hours!_ Why would you just leave like that?!"

Ryley tries to answer - he really, really tries to say anything at all to defend himself - but he still can't manage anything more than a very tired, very apologetic expression, and a noise that almost manages to be audible above the wind. Almost.

"We need to get back to the habitat," A much calmer voice chimes in before Ozzy could start fussing over Ryley even more - Danby. "We shouldn't be in the cold for this long."

The third person hasn't said anything that he could concentrate on yet, and Ryley can't be bothered to try to look at them. He feels all too tired. Ozzy leans into him as they walk, obviously trying to help warm Ryley. It doesn't really do much, but Ryley greatly appreciates the gesture anyways. The third person walks close by on his other side.

Ozzy talks nonstop as they group trudges through the snow, back the direction that Ryley can only assume they came from. He's not sure if he walked the same way or not. He's starting to feel the barren snowfield looks no different no matter how much they walk. Snow, and mountains, and a lack of life that seems to only alarm him. Despite not seeing anything nearby, and knowing there wasn't any darkness or fog for anything to hide behind, he swears he hears some sort of quiet rumbling from nearby. It strangely didn't sound like it was coming from underwater.

Eventually, they reach a large open area that Ryley definitely doesn't recognize. The cliffs and mountains had sloped enough that Ryley could see the sky from all directions without craning his neck. As they start to walk towards it, Ozzy's voice falters, and they seem to slow. Or maybe it was just Ryley imagining it - he felt more tired than he ever had in his life before.

The moment passes quickly, and the four continue on like nothing had happened at all. Ryley dwells on it for a few moments, Ozzy's continued rambling fading into background noise as Ryley looks over the ice land and considers what he's seen. He thinks back to the figures he saw only a few minutes beforehand.

He can't help but think they looked strangely human. They couldn't have been human though, right? Another human wouldn't have just left him there. But, maybe they saw Ozzy and Danby and whoever else Ryley still can't be bothered to identify. Maybe they thought he'd be fine.

The encounter with the Prawn suit briefly flashes through his head, but most of it feels fuzzy. His head hurts. He finally glances back up at Ozzy, their mouth still moving, and Ryley doesn't think they even realize he's struggling to pay attention. His headache gets consistently worst, until he realizes it's not his head, but his ears. Something very loud was causing an annoyingly insistent buzzing next to his jaw.

Once he realizes _'very loud_ ' typically means _'very close'_ , he pauses, and tries to force himself to concentrate on whatever was creating the noise. It was like a rumbling, almost growling - and a mixture of cracking ice.

"Ryley?" Danby asks, but it sounds more like a whisper to Ryley. The noise seemed to come from all around him, as opposed to one location. Why can't he tell what it is? Or _where_ it is? He's almost always been able to before - why can he never tell when it's actually _important_ for him to know?

Danby says something else to him, but Ryley doesn't pick up on the words at all as he stares off into the distant ice mountains, his eyes taking in the area like it would help him hear any better. Rumbling, growling, ice - something in the ice -

_In the ice_. It was _underground._

Ryley opens his mouth and tries to give a warning, and in the same moment the ice in front of him splits open and a giant creature break out into the open with an earsplitting screech. Ryley's head rings with the noise, and he freezes in place, panic and pain overtaking him. Something grabs his arm, and then he's unceremoniously dragged backwards, nearly tripping and falling again.

"What do we do?" A voice rings out, and Ryley finally realizes the third person was Emily. She was standing beside him now, an expression of terror on her face.

Ryley glances back up at the ice creature, who looked like it was about to pounce on them, and all the tiredness and aching in his bones seems to vanish, replaced with panic and adrenaline. He still finds himself glued to the spot. Where could they go anyway? It was clearly faster than them.

Before he could even begin to come up with a plan, a red light clouds his vision, and he blinks to get rid of the blinding light. The creature growls and turns it's head every so slightly to glare at the light. Ryley follows it's gaze to spot... someone on a Snowfox?

The person seemed to be yelling something, with a flare in one of their hands. There was a determined look in their eyes, clearly confident with dealing with the giant tunneling snake.

Distracted by the flare, the creature's attention on them falls, and Ryley takes a hesitant step backwards.

"We need to get out of here," Emily murmurs, already thinking of an escape plan. Ryley suddenly feels incredibly grateful for her being there. "Head for the cliffs, there's too much rock for it to follow us up."

The small group begins to slowly back up, Ryley keeping his full attention on the snake.

The creature quickly figures out the attempted trick, however, and turns it's attention back on the four. It screeches again, and disappears into the ice. Ryley manages a choked noise as a warning a second before it emerges again directly underneath their feet. Danby narrowly manages to dodge the mouth of the creature, but falls hard enough back to the ground that Ryley could hear a very audible thump. A lump of ice and snow gets thrown at Ryley from the strength of the creature rising, the cold stinging his eyes and hitting his head hard enough to create even more ringing in his ears. He momentarily looses track of where everyone else had gone, and panic courses through his veins once more.

For a terrifying moment, his head is yelling at him that this was his fault. If he had just stayed at the habitat, they'd have never come looking for him. This wouldn't have happened. Even worst, if any of them _die-_

He refuses to finish the thought.

He struggles to get back to his feet - when had he even fallen over? - and looks around for the others, a thumping pain echoing throughout his head. Before he locate any of them, a deeper screeching sound, like brakes on ice, rings out from nearby, and Ryley glances to the side. As he does, another Snowfox skids to a stop beside him, kicking up snow.

"Hurry up and get on!" The person driving it snaps, nothing more than urgency on her expression, lacking any indication of fear just like the other person he had seen. Ryley blinks, not moving for a second, before he finally stumbles onto the Snowfox behind the mystery driver, holding down tightly to the plastic seat as the bike quickly begins to speed off. Ryley glances behind himself, worry for the other three gnawing in his stomach.

"They'll be fine, there's others with me!" The person in front of him says, almost as if she read his thoughts, and a moment later, a bit quieter, she mutters "Right, guys?"

A staticky reply through an intercom of some kind only somewhat comforted him, until he sees two more Snowfox speed up from behind them. He lets out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The snake notices immediately, and lets out another angry screech. A second later, it dives back into the ice, only a few layers under the ground judging by the shards of ice and snow that fly up soon after it disappears, and starts to give chase.

Oh, _shit,_ is the single thought running through Ryley's brain as he watches the creature easily start to catch up. They wouldn't have stood a chance without the bikes. He almost thinks they don't stand a chance _with_ them.

The driver speeds past the open barrenness into another area Ryley had never seen before. Large spikes of ice and jagged rock stuck up from the ground, sharp edges on all sides.

"Don't panic, I promise I know what I'm doing!" She yelled above the noise of utter chaos and impeding doom. Ryley was doing nothing but panicking.

The Snowfox easily swerved between the gaps in the rocks, yet Ryley's grip on the bike tightened as his fear of falling off grew. He tried glancing behind himself again, but he couldn't see any sign of the other Snowfoxes anymore. On the bright side, he could hear a far-off frustrated screech from the ice creature, and no more crackling ice. It must have given up its chase.

A few moments later, the driver seems to realize the same, as they slow down. They don't stop until the rocks are all behind them, and a cliff back into the water is mere meters away.

Ryley takes a breath, and tries to calm the shaking in his hands. He can't tell if it's from cold or fear anymore, and frankly, he's not sure he cares. He really just wants to return the habitat and sleep.

Then he glances up at the driver who had stepped off the bike and was talking on their intercom again. Ryley watches them curiously.

Her long hair had a streak of blue running all the way to the end of it, similar to Ryley's own. A sign of Alterra. She was Alterran.

Ryley can't recall ever seeing her before. She didn't look or act like she could be much younger than him, if she was younger at all.

She couldn't have been apart of the Aurora - Ryley surely would have seen her at least once in the entire year they were onboard, right? - and she definitely couldn't be apart of the Degasi or Sunbeam. She seemed too young to be apart of any older ship that may have crashed here.

He recalls the Prawn suit owner telling him Alterra had been here for weeks.

He glances down at the Snowfox. It was new tech as well. Didn't exist more than ten years ago, at least.

Did Alterra send _another_ ship? After what happened to the Aurora? For a moment, he refuses to believe it. Then, with a bitter realization, he knows that Alterra would have without hesitation if they thought they could get something out of it.

The driver sighs, as she seemingly finishes saying whatever to the other two drivers. She turns back to Ryley, and two stare at each silently for a second.

"Was that a bad first impression?" She finally speaks up, a sympathetic tone in her voice. "Your friends are okay. Well, they're not dead, at least. Are _you_ okay?"

Ryley considers the question for a moment. He couldn't feel his fingers or his toes. He was still shaking uncontrollably. His ears rang harshly in his head. His stomach ached with thirst and hunger, and churned with anxiousness and regret. He felt _horrible._

"'m fine," He manages to choke out, feeling tired just from the effort it took. She glances over him, and doesn't appear to believe him, but she doesn't say anything more about it.

"I don't remember you being onboard the Vesper. Or the other three." She points out, a curious glint in her eyes, "Unless I missed four people on a ship that housed twenty?"

Ryley shakes his head. The Vesper... the name doesn't ring any bells. He feels suddenly angry at Alterra all over again, knowing they definitely weren't onboard the Aurora. He can't bother another verbal response yet, his teeth chattering enough he keeps nearly biting his tongue. The other Alterran doesn't wait long before realizing he was staying silent.

"You must be cold," She continues, "One of our crew froze a day after we got shot down here. Dangerous to stay out at night, or at all, honestly," Ryley glances up at her. Did she know he spent the night in a cave? She continues talking all the same, as if she said nothing out of the ordinary at all, "Between the cold and the wildlife, it's near impossible to do anything without nearly dying for it. Of all the planets to survive on, why'd we have to deal with this one?" A humorous tone lines her words, and Ryley manages a smile. She probably had no idea about the crater - despite the cold and that ice thing being harsh to fight off, Ryley's still convinced Reapers and the lava lakes beat out their level of danger.

Then, he realizes he's barely seen what this part of the ocean has to offer him, and he really hopes he ends up being right about that. He doesn't want to deal with more near-death experiences, honestly.

"Oh! My name's Robin, by the way," She inputs.

"Ryley," He replies, mustering up energy to do so.

Robin opens her mouth again, but before she gets any words out, the loud rumbling of two hover bikes quickly come into earshot. Robin turns her head just as one appears after turning to avoid a rock. The second follows close behind.

Ryley's eyes immediately land on Danby, lying limp between one of the Vesper members and Emily. A spike of worry courses through Ryley, and he quickly steps off of the bike and takes a few steps forward.

"He's fine," The driver says upon noticing, "If he wasn't, I'd have left him," It's said with an attempt to lighten the mood, but it just makes Ryley more anxious, and Ozzy and Emily share an annoyed look.

"Ignore him," Robin says to the three of them, stepping up beside the group. Ryley notices the third driver was standing next to her, a nervous expression on their face, as they switch their weight between both legs. "We should bring him back to our base until he wakes up," Robin continues, "I'm assuming yours is underwater?"

Ozzy glares up at her, "Why would we trust _strangers_ with taking our _unconscious friend_ back to their home?" Robin blinks, taken aback by the sudden distrust.

"We don't even know your names," Emily speaks up in agreement, although she doesn't seem anywhere near as suspicious as Ozzy - simply concerned.

The driver still on the bike shrugs, "They have a fair argument," Robin fixes a stare at him for a second, and then turns to look at Emily.

"I'm Robin," She repeats her name, then gestured to the person beside her, "This is my sister Sam, and he's Jeffrey."

"We also just risked our own lives to save you not even five minutes ago." Sam pitches in. Ozzy scoffs, but doesn't reply to either. Emily takes a step forward, her voice softer when she speaks again.

"How far away is it?" She asks, and Robin gestures over one of the clifftops in the distance.

"Takes 20 minutes to ride the hover bikes over,"

Emily stares at the direction for a second, and then glances over to Ryley. She sighs, and turns back to Ozzy.

"Ryley won't make the swim either," She murmurs, quiet enough that Ryley almost doesn't make it out. Ozzy frowns, but seems to give in to the suggestion. They sigh, and take a step away from Danby, although the anxious and distrustful expression on their face remains.

"Meet us back here before sunset tonight," Emily states, "They'll both be well enough by then."

For a moment, Ryley considers arguing against it. _He could swim back!_ But then he glances back at Danby, and he sees the fear in Ozzy's face just at the thought of leaving him alone - and Ryley looks to Robin instead of opening his mouth.

"They'll be fine," Robin reassures, a warmth to her tone that seems to ease even Ozzy. And maybe Ryley trusted people too easily - oh, how quickly he grew to Avery and Bart - but he truly feels Robin had no intent to harm them. Why would she?

And so Ryley sits behind Danby, just to ensure he didn't fall off, and murmurs a quick goodbye to Emily and Ozzy. Neither looked particularly happy with the decision still - yet Ryley feels they made a good one. Danby obviously wouldn't make it back to base, and someone had to tell the others where they went.

Ryley thinks of Avery and Bart now. He winces when he thinks of how they might react when he sees them again. He suddenly feels terrible all over again for leaving - who knows how long they'd all been out looking for him?

Danby, Emily, and Ozzy nearly died looking for him. What if the same happened to anyone else?

The Snowfox starts to speed off at a similar pace to Ryley's panicked thoughts. He shakes his head to try to clear them, and instead focuses on Danby in front of him. Surely everyone else was fine?

Despite trying not to, he finds himself worried more for Avery and Bart than anyone else, and feels suddenly selfish and lonely.

He watches the snow fall around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the sad ending to this chapter jkalnflasjkasjdnf i promise nobody is dying yet !!!
> 
> ANYWAYS its BELOW ZERO CAST TIME!!!! HELL YEAH!!!!! it took me so long to write this that SAM AND ROBINS NAMES WERE CHANGED!!!!! im terrible w doing anything in a quick amount of time rip


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i realize u all are wondering how bart and avery r feeling right about now. my response is HERES A CHAPTER THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER OF THEM AND U GOTTA WAIT EVEN LONGER..... :)

They had returned to the habitat quickly, an urgency fueling them on more than anything had before.

The sun was high in the sky by now, and Ryley slept next to the other the group parted with; he told her his name was Danby shortly before passing out on the floor.

Robin was watching them now, her mind still whirling with the encounter. She honestly couldn't believe that they were still alive, all these months later. She had hoped for them, but after spending just a few days on the planet, she had given up on thinking they'd ever find them.

Sam walks up next to her, her careful gaze never leaving the two. Robin rolls her eyes.

"They're from the Aurora," Sam murmurs, more of a statement rather than a question.

"They must be," Robin quickly agrees, "How else could they be here?"

Sam doesn't answer the question, and instead starts tapping something into her PDA. "Did you get the names of the other two?" Robin shakes her head, and glances down at the screen. It contained a large list of names, most of which weren't unfamiliar to Robin. Alterra had given it to Sam, and Robin had read through it many times - whenever she could - memorizing as many names as she could. She didn't have much else to do in the spacecraft, anyways.

A few seconds of silence pass, and then Sam sets the PDA down on the counter in front of them, "Robinson and Miles. Robinson was chief of non-essential maintenance, and the other's a doctor. Both missing after loss of contact with the Aurora," She reads from the PDA. Alterra had given them just enough information about the most notable Aurora members to identify them.

Chiefs, second in commands, health care experts, and the captain.

Everyone else was simply a name, or not listed at all. The list only comprised of fifty names total; nowhere near the 150 the Aurora had been carrying. Robin used to stay up some nights, unable to sleep with how much that information bothered her.

"Janitor and a doctor?" A voice from behind them pipes up, and Robin doesn't look away from the two Aurora survivors as he speaks, "Wouldn't think either of those would manage well in a place like this."

"Maybe a lot of them survived," Sam suggested hopefully as Jeffreys walks up beside her. "Maxim would be pleased about that."

Jeffreys scoffs at the suggestion, and looks back at the room came from. "Neither of you have told him about them yet, right?"

Robin and Sam exchange a look. "No?" Robin answers, "He was still sleeping when we got back. Never had the chance."

Jeffrey nods, and turns his gaze back to Robin with a harsh look in his eyes. "Keep it that way."

Sam blinks. "What? Why? He'll want to talk to them. Isn't that what we've done all this for? Finding them?"

"We've done all this because Alterran higher-ups can't let anything go." He answers, his voice low to stay quiet, "An unclaimed planet rich with resources for their taking is exactly they kind of thing they'd want."

Sam rolls her eyes and looks away. Robin finds herself glancing back at the two Aurora survivors.

"They probably know an awful lot about this planet by now," She murmurs. Jeffrey nods.

"Which is exactly why Maxim can't know. He'll sell out everything they tell him without hesitation. And Alterra won't want anyone who knows too much to just run off and live their life."

Sam glances up at that with a glare, "Are you suggesting Alterra would _kill them?"_ She hisses. Robin feels her blood go cold. That wouldn't happen to any of them, surely?

Jeffrey doesn't meet her gaze again. He seems to be making a point of avoiding looking at the Aurora duo either. "I'm suggesting we keep low on this until Maxim's over his cold. See what he does after we showed him some humanity. Maybe he'll change his stance."

"If he doesn't?" Robin asks, carefully trying to appear unaffected by the accusation.

Jeffreys shrugs. "I don't know." He murmurs. "I'm just tired of all this death,"

The silence stretches on for a long time. There's a buzzing in the back of Robin's head, and she puts a lot of energy into making sure it stays silent there. Finally, she sighs.

"We're all tired of it."

Nobody speaks for a while after that, the three watching the two Aurora members for long enough that it definitely qualified as creepy. Robin thinks about what would possibly happen to them if they _did_ tell Maxim. Eventually, Jeffreys mutters a goodbye, and heads back towards Maxim's room. Robin can't be bothered to ask him why.

Maxim had been spending most of his time in there lately. He'd come down with a cold after spending some time in the water, and had confined himself to complaining pitifully in bed for the past two weeks. Despite complaints from both of them, Sam had convinced Robin and Jeff to help her care for him. Thankfully, they only needed to bring him food and water occasionally. Robin would much rather explore the ocean while she had the chance, instead of looking after her boss.

Maxim would usually complain, which both got on her nerves and relieved her. Because at least he was well enough to still be as infuriating as ever - but he was also _infuriating_ in all sense of the word.

Robin knows colds definitely weren't supposed to last this long, but she hadn't noticed a decline in his health, so she had opted to ignore it.

Sam seems to know exactly what she's thinking about, because after a moment to ensure Jeffrey had truly left, she lowers her voice to a quiet whisper, "There's something wrong with Maxim,"

Robin's heartbeat quickens with worry, despite her dislike for the CEO. "Obviously," She quickly replies, "He's _Maxim."_

Sam glares at her. "Robin, seriously. He hasn't ate anything in two days and he's starting to refuse to drink. I don't think it's just a cold. It's something else."

Robin meets her gaze, noting the fear in them. "The scanner said it was a cold."

"I've scanned him more than once! It gives a different answer each time! Whatever it is, even Alterra doesn't know."

Robin feels at a loss for words. She was still unsettled by what Jeffrey had said, and wasn't sure how to feel about what her sister was trying to tell her. "I'm... sure it'll be fine."

"You and Jeff aren't taking any of this seriously enough." Sam snaps. "You both keep nearly getting yourselves killed. Maxim is seriously sick and isn't getting any better; he's getting worse. Will you please at least _try_ to care about this?"

The noise in the back of her head gets louder, and Robins snaps back, "Can't you see I _am_ trying? How many times I've risked my life to try to keep us alive here? At least I don't sit and hide in our base all day."

Robin feels bad over the words as soon as they leave her mouth, and Sam turns and walks away without replying. Grief suddenly weighs heavy in her heart. Why would she bring up the fact she was risking her life for them? _Obviously_ Sam wouldn't be happy about that fact.

She considers following Sam, but then Ryley starts murmuring something in his sleep, and Robin figures Sam could deal with it for a few more hours. Then Robin would apologize. Whenever they finally go home, Robin's going to owe her a _lot._ Maybe then Sam would start to trust her again.

Ignoring the feeling of guilt that's been tearing away in her stomach for days now, Robin stays where she was, the words she overheard Ryley say were scarily familiar.

Why was he talking about a _Precursor?_

The buzz in the back of her skull suddenly gets unbearably loud.

_"Robin,"_ It whispers.

"Go _away_ ," She answers back, a surge of panic in her chest at the voice.

A coughing fit interrupts her further thoughts, and Robin turns as Jeff appeared back in the room. She notices just then how tired and sickly he looked, and it strikes her that Sam must have been right - this couldn't have been a cold. And it certainly wasn't just Maxim that was sick.

She turns and leaves the Aurora survivors.

"'m fine," Jeff says before Robin could say anything, his voice scratchy, "By the way," he continues, "I think some more of their friends are showing up. Saw people out the window."

"What? How many?" Despite feeling certain that none of the newfound survivors had any intent to harm them, Robin found herself suddenly regretting the decision to tell them the location of their base.

Jeffrey seems to mirror her anxiousness, "Only two," he answers, "Nasty lot of scars covering one of 'em" 

"That's a mean thing to say," Robin replies, pacing towards the door out of the habitat. Jeffrey laughs as he follows her, but it doesn't sound very genuine.

Outside, Robin spotted them both quickly. They were still a ways from the habitat, but close enough for Robin to see them clearly enough. Jeffrey wasn't joking about the one; scars covered one side of their face, patches of hair shorter than the rest on their scalp. It looked like they only had one eye. Robin can't help but wonder how they survived whatever it was to result in something like that.

The other looked relatively unharmed - Robin thought their face looked familiar, but she can't recall why exactly. She glances at Jeffrey, but his expression gave away nothing of what he was thinking. Without much more thought about it, Robin continues out from their hiding spot and approaches the two.

Compared to the other Alterrans Robin had met that day, these two were much friendlier.

"Hi," One greeted as she got close enough. Despite the good-natured tone, he doesn't seem worried for the two other Aurora survivors, a calm expression on his face. "You're Robin, right?"

Robin nods. "That's me. And you're... looking for Ryley and Danby, I'm assuming?"

"Are they alright?" The second asks, his voice shaky. Close up now, Robin can see he definitely was missing an eye. She nods to him, empathizing with the panic. She knew all too well what it was like for someone to go missing, and not know what happened. She realizes all of them must know. That definitely makes her feel bad.

Swallowing back grief, Robin makes small talk as she leads them back to the habitat.

She doesn't ask for their names, and neither of them seem to realize they hadn't told her them. There's a distant way about both of them carry themselves and talk, and Robin assumes they're too invested in the safety of their friends to be too bothered by her.

_"Robin,"_ the voice in her skull whispers again, sounding unhappy and impatient. Robin ignores it, and continues walking. She had more important things to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unnecessary Family Angst, chapter 5!! i sure do love it when people have issues that could be easily resolved if both parties just fuckin talked to each other for once!!!!!! sorry i fall into the bad writing tropes yall 😔✊aksjflgnjasklfnklnd
> 
> also i swear this chap was supposed to be short idk what happened!! i dont even feel like i wrote that much hopefully u don't mind!! i always feel like i gotta write at least 1000 words or the chaps not good enough lmao


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok im not gonna apologize again for the late chapter bc i apologize way too much for late chapters,,,,,BUT ITS BEEN A BUSY COUPLE WEEKS. i moved!! i had an emotional breakdown!! school is starting back up in like 4 days!! ALL AWFUL!! i also got really intensely back into this game and have been obsessing over it for the past 86 hours!!! i cannot focus on anything but Cool Ass Fish Game!!!!!  
> also this chap ended up VERY LONG and i also rewrote the entire thing like. 3 times already!! IM SO GLAD ITS FINALLY DONE AND I CAN MOVE ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER

Ryley glances out the window, his head aching terribly, and squints to see through the darkness overtaking the landscape.

He isn't exactly sure how long he'd been out, but Robin assured him it had only been a few hours. Danby had woken up some time before him. Ryley turns his head to glance at him now, watching him hesitantly poking at his own chest, and wincing away in pain. Ryley hadn't asked him how he was yet, he realizes guiltily.

Most of the Vesper crew had disappeared after he woke, and he didn't want to take any of their supplies without asking first, despite his throat aching terribly with thirst. He knows all too well the pain of rationing out the little you had in a desperate attempt to live even just a single day longer.

He looks back out the window, his gaze settling on the two shapes he's been anxiously watching for the past few minutes, unsure if he wanted them to come back inside or return back to their own habitat.

Avery and Bart had tracked down where Emily and Ozzy left the two of them, and had waited at the unfamiliar habitat until they had both woken. They both had been checking in on Danby for a while, and Avery fussed over Ryley like he thought he was genuinely dying. Avery had complaints similar to Ozzy's, asking Ryley what kind of thought process he could have _possibly_ went through to pull a stunt like _that_ , and Ryley felt beyond relieved that he wasn't truly mad at him.

After going back out a short time ago, Ryley hadn't missed how Avery kept glancing back at the habitat with an anxious glint in his eye, restlessly tapping his fingers. Ryley doesn't know if he's ever seen Avery so worried, and that makes him feel terrible all over again.

The worse part, Ryley thinks, is that Bart didn't have a reaction at all like Avery's. Bart was quiet, and secluded, and refused to meet Ryley's eyes. Bart hadn't said a single word to him since Ryley woke up. Ryley could see nothing but a carefully kept calmness, so unlike Bart - so much more like the person he was more than a decade ago. Ryley feels reminded more of the voice he's heard of PDA recordings from months before Bart even knew of the Sea Emperor, reminded of the heir to a company. He was acting nothing like the Bart that Ryley had met, the Bart that had dedicated his survival to making sure the Aurora survivors managed to live, the Bart that looked at Ryley fondly whenever the two were talking with the Emperor hatchlings.

Now, Bart ignores Ryley, and Ryley feels awfully sure he's done something very, _very_ wrong.

Even so, Ryley feels determined to fix it. And he needed to tell him about the Prawn suit. He stares out the window for another anxious moment, trying to build up courage, before he stands on shaky legs. He tells Danby he's going to talk to the two outside, and the other only murmurs vague acknowledgement, as if he wasn't paying attention enough to hear what words Ryley was saying, only the noise. Pushing the gnawing anxiousness aside, Ryley steps out of the habitat.

The icy wind hits him right away, and for a second he struggles for breath at the shocking cold. He recovers a moment later, and wonders how Avery and Bart were staying out here so long. It felt like it was getting colder and colder the more time they spent on land.

Avery glances up at him first, and Bart only lifts his head long enough to meet Ryley's eyes for a heartbeat, before he turns away silently again. Avery glances between the two, then stands up to greet Ryley.

"Hi," Ryley says when Avery gets close enough to hear.

"Hi." Avery repeats, his voice lacking any of the anxiety or guilt Ryley felt. The warmth in his tone was almost enough to quiet Ryley's nerves. One glance at the back of Bart's head makes Ryley's stomach drop again.

Almost as if he's reading his thoughts, Avery quietly speaks, "He was terrified when he found out you were missing. He just needs some time to calm down." He nods towards Bart. "Talk to him."

Ryley wants to believe him, but the anxious feeling in his gut convinces him that it won't be that easy.

"It'll work out okay," Avery tells him with a hopeful tone. After a pause, he continues, "We were just about to head back in. Don't stay out too long."

Ryley nods, barely paying attention as Avery walks away. Bart was still sitting on the ground, snow slowly pilling up around him. The patch flattened by Avery was already barely noticeable, the stone beneath already covered again. He lets out a quiet sigh as he approaches Bart.

When he sits down, Bart still doesn't acknowledge him. Ryley looks at the expanse of ocean in front of him. For a few long moments, he's swept up in memories.

He remembers first waking after the crash, and feeling utterly _alone_ for the first time ever in his life. He remembers desperately trying to save the Sunbeam, and only managing to help Avery. He remembers finally seeing Ozzy and Danby again, after feeling so, _so_ certain that they hadn't made it.

He remembers the first time he met Bart. He remembers the first time he felt determined they would survive all of this. He remembers the lava lakes, and how terrified he'd been.

He remembers when Avery had returned alone, barely clinging on to each breath, and told him that Bart was dead.

It snaps him out of his own thoughts, and he glances at the side of Bart's face. He had probably felt the same terror, same disbelief, same numb sense of grief. He _must_ have thought Ryley had died.

Ryley takes another breath, "I'm sorry,"

Bart doesn't reply right away, and after a few seconds Ryley thinks he's not going to reply at all.

"I know." He responds at last, still carefully avoiding looking at Ryley. His voice was quiet, softer than Ryley's heard it before.

"You seem upset."

There's another pause, as if Bart was thinking over his words before speaking them. "You disappeared, told nobody where you were going, and then didn't return by the next morning. Of course I'm upset." Bart finally glances at him, and Ryley feels his heart ache in guilt and empathy. "What if something actually happened to you? What if we never found you?"

Ryley isn't sure how to answer. "Everything turned out fine," he responds instead. Bart's gaze burns into him for another long moment, before he turns away again.

The two sit in a silence that Ryley desperately wants to break, but he finds himself completely unsure of how to continue. The wind howls loudly against his ears, the bitter cold starting to sting his face. They'd have to go back inside soon, Ryley realizes, as the sun starts to sink below the horizon.

Worried that he wouldn't get another chance anytime soon to talk to Bart, Ryley takes a steadying breath.

"I met someone at the top of a mountain last night. I don't think they're with the other group."

Bart finally looks back at him, his eyebrows furrowed. "..What?"

The acknowledgment was all it took for Ryley to start spilling the entire encounter. Every detail he remembered. Bart remained silent, until Ryley eventually stopped rambling.

"You think they're from the Degasi, don't you?" Bart murmurs, after Ryley voices his doubts to them belonging to the other Alterran group.

Ryley hesitates. It seemed the most likely. But now that he's heard someone else say it aloud, he suddenly doubts himself. Maybe they were just a bitter outcast of the Vesper? Maybe he truly had just forgotten about someone on the Aurora? Maybe someone on the Sunbeam miraculously survived the ship being shot down?

"Where did they go?" Bart continues, snapping Ryley out of his thoughts. He seemed to be taking the suggestion seriously enough, at least.

Ryley shrugs. "They.. ran off. I don't know." Bart looks disheartened with that, so Ryley continues, "Do you know who it might be?"

Bart stands up and shakes snow from his legs before he responds. Ryley shaking gathers himself up beside him.

"Only one way to find out."

* * *

Ryley awakes before the sun's risen the next morning. Their habitat was much smaller than it was back at the crater, but Ryley doesn't mind much. He can hear the slow breathing of most of the others, still sleeping. Bart and Avery were a few meters away, murmuring to each other. Milo stands beside Ryley.

"You've only just got back," Milo says, his voice low, "Shouldn't you be resting still?"

"I spent yesterday resting," Ryley argues back. Milo stares at him, and crosses his arms.

"Why can't we just stay in one place for a while? One of you is always running off and getting hurt."

Ryley glances at him, and rests a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be fine. And Bart's bringing his PDA. We'll tell you if we run into trouble."

Milo grunts in acknowledgment. "I'd rather you didn't have the option of running into trouble at all."

"We'll be back by sunset." Ryley replies, ignoring the nervousness in his stomach. He can hear Milo's heartbeat, quicker than usual, as he taps his fingers against his arm. Ryley tries to not let it get to him, and leaves Milo behind as he approaches Bart and Avery, who look up at him when he gets close enough.

Bart nods, a determined look in his eyes. With a final quiet goodbye to Milo, the three set off into the cold water, swimming towards the icy mountains looming in the distance.

They manage to reach land without any troubles, Ryley trying hard to remember the way he went when he first walked past. It seemed like a completely different place now in the dawn light.

Ryley keeps an ear out for any sound of the leviathan that attacked him before, terrified of encountering it again. He pauses every few footsteps to make sure the crunching snow wasn't disguising it. Avery meets his gaze once, and Ryley recounts the creature to him.

Avery shivers as Ryley describes the deafening roar, and the sharp red horn on its head - clearly meant to help it burrow through ice, he realizes now - stabbing so horrifyingly close to the ground beneath Danby and Emily's feet. Ryley's convinced it wasn't due to the cold.

However, the wind seems to pick up as soon as soon as Ryley finishes speaking, and looks to the sky to see dark clouds quickly traveling across. Several started to cover the sun, causing the already limited light to fade even further as the sun struggled to pierce through.

_"Another_ blizzard?" Avery asks aloud, and Ryley feels a similar sense of dread. Was the planet in a _permanent_ stormy season? Why was it _always_ raining or snowing?

Bart pauses to glance up at the mountains in front of them. Ryley sees doubt flicker into his gaze, and he finds it hard to convince himself to continue.

Then, he thinks back to the Prawn suit. Thinks back to how determined Bart was to figure out whoever the person was. Whoever Bart was hoping it was. What if wasn't anyone they knew? If it came to a fight, would they even have a chance?

Ryley takes a breath, ignoring the thoughts, and takes a few more steps towards the snowy mountains and their freezing tunnels and caves, his feet dragging through the snow, and only a moment passes before he hears Bart and Avery continue after him.

"How are we even going to find this person?" Avery asks, voicing more doubts nagging at the back of Ryley's head. "What if they don't come back here?"

"They did seem to want to be left alone.." Bart says under his breath, quiet enough that Avery surely couldn't have heard him.

Ryley tries hard to hear any signs of another person anywhere near them. He hears his own breathing, the crunching of snow behind him, three heartbeats. He hears Bart's teeth chattering, and Avery rubbing his hands together to warm them up. He hears the quiet drip of icicles hanging off rocks, melting ever so slightly despite the freezing temperatures.

His pace slows as he tries harder to concentrate, and much farther away, he can hear an ice worm. He can hear the stomping footsteps of something four-legged, and the snapping of their teeth and jaws.

He can hear something else stomping around even louder, and for a few dizzying moments it overwhelms him. All the sounds become deafening, and he swears he can hear each small snowflake hitting the snow covered ground, can hear every wave smack against the ice.

Then there's a steadying hand on his shoulder, and Ryley opens his eyes to see Bart. He doesn't even remember closing his eyes at all.

Suddenly, Ryley's pulled back into their conversation yesterday. He feels another twinge of guilt as he considers that Bart hadn't seemed to forgive him.

There's no sign of anger or grief on Bart now, simply concern. Ryley suddenly hones in on the thought of Bart not forgiving him. _What if Bart never forgave him?_

Bart's mouth moves, but Ryley's too lightheaded, his ears ringing, and he almost forgets how to breathe. He blinks at Bart, trying to pull himself back into reality. What was in front of him.

"Are you okay?" Bart asks, Ryley finally realizes, and he nods, ignoring how totally _not_ okay he felt.

"We have to keep looking for them," Ryley responds, his voice sounding strange to his own ears. He feels like his heart is being pulled on, edging him forward. He needs to see that Prawn suit again. The overwhelming need to figure it out startles him, and his ears ring for a second longer than they should have.

Bart stares at him a moment longer, before taking a step back. As they walk, Bart sticks close to Ryley's side, close enough that their arms brush on accident occasionally.

By the time Ryley finally starts to recognize parts of the trail he followed up the mountain, the sun was completely covered in clouds, making even the middle of the day dark enough that Ryley had to strain his eyes to see more than a meter in front of him.

Very, very faintly, he hears the whisper of voices, so quiet and far away that he couldn't even try to guess who they belonged to. Can't even begin to string the words together. Even so, it was the best indication he's had yet of another person on the island. With a sudden surge of excitement, he looks around quickly for another tunnel to climb the mountains, the same strange spur to continue forward that he'd felt before returning to him.

He doesn't get a chance to rediscover the path he'd walked prior, as Avery calls to them just as he begins to search. Ryley keeps his gaze on the mountains for another brief moment; the faint whispers had already fallen silent. Sighing under his breath, Ryley turns back to Avery, surprised for a second at how far he and Bart had wandered from him. Ryley hurries towards the two with a jolt of anxiety.

"That a way forward?" Avery asks when they're both close enough, gesturing with his arm towards a cave entrance just barely visible, built into the side of the mountain. Snow pilled around the hole in the cliff, and icicles hung down from the ceiling. Ryley tried peering into it, but pitch darkness overtook it only a few meters in, and he couldn't hear anything at all inside. Just silence. The quiet dark screams _bad,_ and Ryley bites his tongue as he tries to find any other way forward.

"If it isn't, we'll just have to turn around," Bart answers, once he realizes Ryley wasn't going to.

Swallowing down a complaint, Ryley follows Bart as he steps into the cave, Avery trailing behind them. Ryley quickly loses the ability to see even his own hands in front of his face, his only indication of Bart and Avery being their breathing, heartbeats, and footsteps.

The sounds echo loudly in the cave, mixing with the water drops hitting the stone ground; a noise that Ryley jumps at each time, no matter how much he anticipates the next one happening.  
The cave winds in several directions, until Ryley is glad that it only seemed to be one path, because they'd have no way of telling which direction was the way out otherwise. They'd almost definitely need to follow the path again at some point, even if it _wasn't_ a dead end.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," Ryley murmurs into the silence, the compulsion to figure out who the Prawn suit user was fading as cold settled so far into his bones he felt certain he'd never feel warm again. "Why are we doing all of this for someone who threatened me when I was alone? Surely they'd have a stronger reaction now that there's more of us?"

"Well, when you word it like that.." Avery replies, his voice soft, and Ryley glances anxiously at him over his shoulder, even though neither of them can see each other. Ryley thinks he can almost see the glint in Avery's eye, all the same. "You doubt yourself too much. I'm sure we'll be fine,"

The words only slightly dispel Ryley's anxieties, but he appreciates the sentiment all the same.

"Also, I brought a knife." Avery continues, and Ryley doesn't feel any better at all anymore. What would a knife even do to a Prawn suit? It wouldn't do anything to the person inside. Ryley doesn't exactly like the idea of any of them stabbing whoever it was, anyways.

"There's light ahead." Bart says, the words putting an end to the conversation. Ryley peers past Bart, the rock ahead just slightly more visible than the ones beside him. The three walk a bit faster at the prospect of leaving the cold tunnel. Ryley remembers with a pang that outside the cave would be just as cold, if not colder. Ryley can't remember the last time he's felt so fed up with cold and snow. Right now, he'd give up on awful lot for the warmth on the crater. Maybe he was too used to all the lava.

The finally emerge into the sunlight, just barely managing to fall through cracks in the clouds. No more snow had fallen yet, but the wind had picked up while they were in the cave, howling against Ryley's ears. Ryley closes his eyes, bringing his hands up to shield his face, as the little amount of light burns his eyes that had adjusted to the dark. He blinks them open again after a few seconds, still squinting.

They had emerged onto a small plateau covered in snow. A few small plants were growing in cracks in the stone walls. Ryley takes a couple steps forwards to cautiously look over the edge, clumps of snow falling as he steps a bit too close to it. A larger patch of ground was laying beneath them, a considerable drop down, enough to cause Ryley to take a slow step backwards, more aware of his footing now. He looks behind himself to see Avery and Bart similarly looking down, an anxious look in Avery's eye. Bart touches his arm, and steps away to look at the horizon.

Land stretched on in front of them a long way, before dropping away to ice, and then more ocean. Ryley looks up, the mountaintop much closer now that they'd walked up this far. A few skyrays flew around, some noticeably larger than others, with sharp talons that Ryley can't recall skyrays usually having.

Below the circling birds was what looked like another platform, that Ryley couldn't see any obvious ways to get up to. He thinks he sees a few bones hanging just visible off of the stone, the only things without snow coating them. Glancing back up the the larger skyrays, Ryley thinks they must have been placed on the cliff recently. Very recently. At least none of them looked large enough to consider attacking them.

His gaze flickers back to the platform, wondering if they should climb higher or not, when snow falls suddenly off the cliff, landing harshly on his head. Ryley jumps back with a quiet yelp at the cold, shaking the snow out of his hair. He hears Bart and Avery snickering, trying to stop themselves from laughing, and Ryley turns to glare at them, fully prepared to defend himself. The second he sees their smiles, though, the words die on his tongue.

Avery stands and walks towards him, "This planet really has it out for you recently, huh?" He says, his voice bubbly, trying to contain himself.

Ryley rolls his eyes. "Funny,"

Avery opens his mouth to reply again, but is instantly cut off by the loud noise of something mechanical. Ryley glances up, alarmed, as something gray crashes down right next to him, knocking harshly enough against the stone at their feet that Ryley hears a crack, and then he's falling. He hits the ground below with a thud, the breath knocked out of him.

He turns his head, wheezing for air, and is greeted by the sight of sharp bones taped to a suit that he _definitely_ remembers. Avery was lying a few meters behind it. Ryley couldn't see Bart anywhere. Did he fall further down? Terror jolts through Ryley, and he struggles to get up, trying to force his lungs to work. The user in the Prawn suit pushes the little progress he made back down with one of the sharp bones strapped to one of the suit's arms.

"I told you not to follow me," The voice starts, robotic as the last time he heard it, "And you brought more Alterrans to come lookin'?"

Ryley shrugs, trying to disguise his fear, quickly trying to decide how he'd talk his way out of this, "I haven't done anything to to you, have I?"

His voice doesn't sound confident at all, creaky and clearly giving away his struggle for oxygen. The person makes a noise that Ryley thinks might have been some sort of humorless laugh.  
"You certainly won't get another chance to try."

Ryley winces. Trying to come up with an excuse to defend himself, Ryley glances over at Avery. He was lying startlingly still, barely breathing. The Prawn suit follows Ryley's gaze, and takes a few heavy steps away towards him.

"Leave him alone," Ryley says, his voice cracking, "If you have a problem with Alterra, then leave him out of this. He's not Alterran."

"I don't believe you." The suit user says simply, pausing to look down at the shape lying in the snow.

Fighting terror, Ryley tries to get up again, but his arms and legs haven't regained the strength to support his weight again yet. "He's- he was the captain of a ship. He came out looking for us after we crashed, and his ship was shot down as well. He hasn't done anything. You can't hurt him!" His voices raises at the end in desperation to get through to them.

There's a second of silence, as the suit owner seems to process his words. Then, with a sneer, the person turns slightly back to Ryley. "Watch me."

Ryley surges forward, without any plan at all, desperation forcing his body to cooperate. The Prawn doesn't seem caught off guard at all, and one of the arms knock him harshly back, and he falls back to the ground. His vision blurs, and his heartbeat thumps painfully in his head, but Ryley still tries to get up again. He can't manage to at all any more.

"I told you to stay out of my way," The robotic voices adds.

Ryley chokes on words that jumble in his throat, as the suit takes one more step towards Avery, and one of the mechanical arms picks him up. Avery feebly tries to break free of the grip, his eyes glazed over with fear.

"Remember this moment the next time you think about tracking me again."

Ryley watches helplessly. His gaze meets Avery's, and time seems to freeze for a long moment. _This can't be happening,_ Ryley thinks, feeling sick to his stomach.

"Stop!" A voice cries out, terrified, from somewhere out of Ryley's sight.

Barely a second later, Bart runs out from somewhere, skidding to a halt near the Prawn suit. Almost as if they were surprised by Bart's appearance, the suit drops Avery, who falls into the snow where he had been only a few moments prior. Bart takes a step forward to stand in front of Avery, shielding him from the suit. For a moment, Ryley's convinced the user was just going to kill both of them.

Ryley has no idea what he'd do if both of them died. The thought makes his heart skip a beat.

But the Prawn doesn't attack Bart, doesn't snap at him or Ryley. They take a hesitant step backward, and stay silent for a long moment. Bart's gaze stays stuck on the suit, almost desperately trying to peer through the dark protective glass.

The Prawn suit user finally snaps out of their silence. "..Bart?" They ask, their voice quiet despite the jarring voice changer.

"We asked you before who you were and you didn't answer," Bart murmurs, "Will you tell me now?"

Ryley winces at the request, hoping it didn't cause the suit owner to get angry at them again. Ryley might be able to run away while they were distracted - but he knows he wouldn't leave Avery and Bart behind. Not with someone like this.

To his relief, they don't seem to take any offense at all to the question, and instead take another few steps back. Ryley stares, dumbfounded, as the suit crouches low to the ground, the hatch at the top pops open and the person inside quickly climbs out.

They had short hair, ever so slightly unevenly cut, and graying with age. A few spots of recently healed scratches coated their face and neck, alongside long since healed scars. They had gloves - _actual gloves_ , not the ones that Ryley or Bart wore with their diving gear to keep their hands dry - and some of their clothing was lined with fur. They were noticeably skinnier than any of the three of them, as if they had struggled to find enough food for themselves for a while now.

Staring at them, knowing they knew who Bart was enough to trust and listen to him - Ryley is utterly convinced that this person has been living on 4546B for a _very_ long time. There was no way they could possibly be from the Vesper or Sunbeam, couldn't have been from the Aurora.

The person casts a quick glance at Ryley, clearly still suspicious of him, but they say nothing to him nor Avery.

Bart continues to stare wordlessly at the person, his mouth opening a bit as if he planned to say something, but then he closes it again without making a sound.

The silence seems to last a lifetime to Ryley. He reasons to himself that it couldn't have been very long at all. He still feels his fingertips despite them being buried in the snow, and his lungs are only working just a bit better than they were before the person jumped out of the mech suit. Surely only a few moments had past, at most. It still feels like forever to him.

Bart finally collects his thoughts. "Marguerit," He all but breathes out, tears welling in his eyes, "I thought you were _dead,"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> local depressed child reunites with accidentally adopted mother after thinking her dead for past decade while protecting his two boyfriends who were being murdered by said mother, more at 11


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now THIS chapter is so full of self-indulgent fluff that i had to stop writing every few sentences bc i was smiling my ass off so badly i couldnt concentrate on writing for a while sdnfkjlabglkf HOPE YALL ENJOY
> 
> edit: FUCK NEVERMIND

Avery stares at Bart and... Marguerit? - and blinks. This was not how he thought this situation would be resolved, in all honesty. He glances over to Ryley, who meets his gaze with a similar level of confusion, and shrugs.

"Oh, y' can't get rid of me that easily," Marguerit answers, a hint of humor in her tone that simply puzzles Avery. Her eyes glisten with relief, her expression not matching her scruffy appearance at all. Wasn't she _just_ trying to _kill them all?_

Bart lets out a choked laughing sound, and takes a few stumbling steps forward to hug the person in front of him, and Avery doesn't think he's ever seen Bart so happy before. He can't stop the small smile from forming on his face, and almost doesn't notice when Ryley stops to crouch down next to him.

"This is weird," Ryley murmurs to him.

"She's that person from the PDA entries, isn't she?" Avery remembers the name and voice, now that he thinks about it, "They seemed friendly enough, I guess."

Ryley nods, eyeing the Prawn suit behind Marguerit. "Doesn't mean she has any reason to be friendly to us now."

For a second, Avery wants to disagree, because surely she'd at least _tolerate_ them if she knew Bart was their friend? But then he remembers more of those recorded entries; she had barely stopped herself from abandoning her group at any inconvenience with the Degasi, purely because of Bart's father. If she didn't like one of them, would she turn against them just as quickly? He shudders at the thought of one of the others being in his place, out in the middle of nowhere trapped with that Prawn looking down at them.

Bart was saying something to Marguerit when Avery turned his attention back to them. "You have no _idea_ how much I've missed you," His voice was shaky, "I spent weeks looking for you, all over the crater, every _inch_ of the dunes and mountains..." he trails off in a whisper, and Avery winces. Those areas had several reaper leviathans in them - the one thing on the entire planet Bart seemed to actually dislike. Even on the ride in the Cyclops over, he'd wake in the middle of the night after dreaming of them. Avery can't exactly blame him. He'd do the same just as often, remembering their horribly loud roar, the mandibles that could crush Prawn suits in seconds, their terrifyingly sharp teeth that could bite through even the strongest of steel with _ease..._

Avery recoils at the memories, and tries to push the thought to the back of his head. He realizes Ryley was staring at him, and Avery lets out a breath of air, "'m fine," He murmurs. The words make him think for a second longer, and he cautiously stretches out his arms and legs, testing how badly they hurt to move, before attempting to stand. Ryley keeps a hand on his back, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

Marguerit glances past Bart at them, Avery can almost feel her distrustful hostility towards them as if the feelings were his own. Bart quickly realizes her divided attention, and gestures towards Avery and Ryley.

"The talkative one is Ryley, and he's Avery," Bart tells her, "They're.. friends." There's a slight hesitation before Bart says _friends,_ only just barely there, that Avery fixates on for much longer than he had any reason to.

Marguerit scoffs. "Well, your _friends_ are _assholes,"_

Bart rolls his eyes with a sigh under his breath, but he doesn't seem actually bothered by the comment at all. Avery thinks he's too happy to know she's alive to care much about anything she said right now. He and Ryley, on the other hand, had nothing short of a poor first impression. Frustration seemed to radiate off Ryley in waves, and Avery has to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something back. He doesn't want to start another fight.

"You just almost killed him and he never even did anything to you!" Ryley snaps, clearly not sharing Avery's thoughts. "If Bart hadn't come with us you would have killed both of us!"

Marguerit's gaze gives away nothing as she stares down Ryley for a moment, then shrugs, "Yeah, probably would've."

Ryley blinks, and Marguerit turns her gaze away from them both again.

Avery shoulders him. "Is this anything you were expecting when we went to track her down?" He murmurs, making sure his voice was quiet enough that only Ryley could hear.

Ryley doesn't respond right away, clearly still perplexed by Marguerit's behavior. "I... no, not really." He falls quiet for a second, before adding, "What do we do now? I thought something would happen or.. _something."_

Avery thinks about that. Ryley had seemed rather determined to figure out who was using the Prawn suit. He had thought it'd be important, useful for them in whatever Ryley thought they were supposed to be doing this far from the crater. Now, Ryley looked confused, even a little upset - and Avery wonders what he was _expecting_ to happen. Avery figures that whatever it was, hopefully Marguerit was going to be helpful to them. If she wasn't, then he's glad that Bart and her got to see each other again at the very least.

But what do they do next? Ryley and Bart had seemed in a rush to run out into the dead zone and whatever this part of the planet was, but both had been strangely quiet about why. Avery can't imagine it was just to find Marguerit, or the other Alterrans who showed up recently. Avery isn't even sure _how_ they crashed. He's certain they deactivated the enforcement platform _months_ ago - Alterra wouldn't have sent another ship out that soon after their last crashed, surely?

And now Ryley seemed at a complete loss as well. Avery tries to not doubt him - Ryley usually knows what he's doing, and if he doesn't, Bart definitely did. But Avery can't help but feel neither of them are very certain about their end goal, let alone how to get there. He can only hope they figure it out, and that this side of the planet wasn't too dangerous for them to handle.

So far, it seemed to be cutting it fairly close. Some of them have already almost died more than once. It had only been a few days. He doesn't remember it being so tough on the crater.

"There's lots more of us! Most of the Aurora crew didn't make it.." Bart's voice snaps Avery out of his thoughts. Bart trails off for a second again, and Avery remembers when he was still on the Sunbeam, and his ship picked up the debris field surrounding the planet, and how horribly guilty he'd felt for his comments on the last broadcast he'd sent them. The number of people he'd thought died was... higher than he'd thought back then. Now, the number was even higher.

Avery can't help feeling ever so slightly guilty about it, even though none of it could possibly be his fault.

"Sure were a number of fighters, though. More than we had." Bart's gaze flashes back to Ryley fondly as he speaks.

"Sounds like Alterra to be a pain in the ass to get rid of," Marguerit replies, loud enough that she clearly was intending for Ryley to overhear. Ryley sighs under his breath, but doesn't say anything to her.

"I think you'd get along with them all!" Bart says, finally defending them, "They're good people. They've helped save my life more times than I can count. None of them want anything to do with Alterra anymore."

Marguerit scoffs, but doesn't say anything to disagree. "You shouldn't stay out too long." She says instead, after a brief pause, changing the subject, "Night's get cold enough to kill you in minutes."

Avery thinks about how Ryley had been out an _entire night_ only a few days prior, and a fresh wave of terror engulfs him as he thinks, once again, just how close Ryley had come to dying.

Bart doesn't seem to make the connection, and his eyes light up instead, "You should come back to our base with us. We haven't had much time to build much of it, but there's enough room for you to stay. It's not very far, either..."

Bart continues to name a list of reasons for Marguerit to follow them, and Avery realizes Marguerit was struggling to pay attention. A flood of fear and bitterness was radiating off of her, so strongly that Avery could almost think the emotions were his own. She clearly had no plans on going back to the habitat with them, and Bart had no intentions of leaving her side anytime soon.

Bart falls quiet, noticing her hesitancy. "You don't want to?" He asks, a hint of sadness in his voice that he seemed to be trying to hide. Marguerit blinks.

"I'm not sure if going into a group of strangers' home is a good idea after I've already attacked some of them more than once," She replies, no hint of her emotions given away. It was a purely logical stance, Avery admits. It would make it clear she wasn't going out of her way to avoid Bart - something that Avery thinks he might need to be reassured about after finding her alive after all these years.

Instead of accepting the decline, Bart nods once, and speaks again. "That wouldn't be a problem at your base, would it?"

Marguerit laughs. "Not for you, it wouldn't." Her eyes look to Avery and Ryley, "I'd rather they didn't go."

Avery pauses. Despite the two being friends, Avery didn't feel even slightly safe around Marguerit; there was _no way_ he'd let Bart go off alone with her! Who knows what she was capable of doing? Just as Avery was about to object, Bart answers instead, "They can go back to our habitat - they know the way, and they won't be traveling alone," Avery could make a number of reasons why they _shouldn't_ do that, but Marguerit was already nodding her head, and Bart and her were already starting to walk off.

"Don't be gone for too long!" Ryley calls after Bart, as Avery watches the two leave in silence, "Be careful!"

Bart doesn't say anything back, or do anything to indicate he even heard him. Avery tries to ignore how much it stung to watch him leave without a word.

* * *

They walk slowly back to the habitat. Despite the chill, and Marguerit's warning, Avery can't bring himself to hurry back - he felt all too worried about Bart to force anything more than barely dragging his feet away from the mountains.

Ryley seems less concerned, but way less concentrated on where he was stepping. Avery glances over at him from time to time, and caught him with his eyes closed more than once, and sometimes he slowed to a stop and wouldn't continue until Avery called to him. It occurs to him that he must be listening out to them, and that Ryley must be just as worried about Bart as Avery was. Usually Ryley tried to avoid eavesdropping on others - Avery thinks he does it often on accident, but he never _purposefully_ listens.

When they finally reach the edge of the shore, water lapping in waves up to their feet and creating ice on the snow there, Ryley falters. "I can't hear them anymore," He murmurs, his voice just loud enough to picked up over the wind.

Avery hesitates for a moment, "I'm sure he'll be fine," He answers, trying to convince himself just as much as Ryley. Thankfully, he doesn't appear to pick up on Avery's doubts, and nods his head, before stepping further into the sea. Avery stares after him for another second, and tries to remember the way back to their habitat. The he follows after Ryley into the salty water, flinching at the cold shock as he steps further in.

They don't make much progress in the water before Avery feels a tingling in his fingers. For a moment he puts it off as simply being cold, but the feeling persists, and spreads harshly through his arms. He winces at the sensation, and notices movement out of the corner of his eye.

He recognizes it as a person quickly enough, and briefly assumes on of the others simply went out looking for them. Milo or Jochi, probably. But then he sees their hair, long and with a very visible strain of blue trailing through it, so similar to Ryley's, but much less faded out; Ryley's streak of blue had almost completely faded into his natural hair color, only a slight color difference hinting at the once dyed hair.

None of the other Aurora members members has such a vivid color, all the dyes fading with time and frequent time in the water. No, this was one of the Vesper members, Avery realizes. Robin, he thinks her name was?

She notices them only a moment after Avery remembers her name, and gestures to the water's surface. She wanted to talk to them. More than a simple greeting.

Ryley swims up first. and Avery follows without hesitating.

The three of them take a second to catch their breath - Avery and Ryley hadn't been underwater long at all, why did Avery feel so out of it?

"Thank Alterra I found you two," Robin starts, before either of them could say anything, "Sam sent me to look for you."

Avery blinks. Ryley opens mouth, but Robin continues on before he can get a word out.

"Maxim went missing, and none of us can find him anywhere. He's been sick since we crashed here, and can barely look after himself. He can't be out on his own - not on a planet like _this."_ Her voices rises a bit at the end, giving way to panic. "Sam was hoping you've found him. Clearly you haven't."

Avery shakes his head, slowly. Ryley grimaces, "He couldn't have gone far, I'm sure Have you tried any of the caves in the mountains?"

Robin hesitates, then shakes her head, "Jeff said he'd search them, but- there's so _many_ caves and tunnels and dead-ends, who knows which one he could have wandered into?"

"We'll keep an eye out," Ryley tells her, his gaze meeting Avery's for a second before turning away again. Avery pauses, his mind whirling, barely paying attention as Robin speeds off, back in the direction that Avery had first seen her.

"You're acting weird," He murmurs to Ryley, the two of them swimming slowly along the surface now. He can feel waves of worry and distress coming off him, Ryley's gaze pointedly avoiding his.

"We did something wrong," Ryley says, after a long pause of silence. Avery freezes for a moment, staring at him. What was he talking about? "Back on the crater. Or maybe here. I don't know. But we did something wrong."

"..Care to explain?" Avery asks, bewildered by the strong amount of fear Ryley seemed to be feeling. What set him off? Maxim being missing? "Look, I'm sure he's gonna be-"

"Robin said he's been sick since they crashed," Ryley interrupted, "Sam has suspiciously familiar blisters on her neck," he continues, "And don't pretend like _you're_ feeling perfectly fine."

Avery shakes his head. "No." He answers, his voice more filled with emotion than he intended it to, and he continues with a softer tone, "We fixed it. The Emperors can deal with the Kharra. This is just... a cold, or a coincidence, or-"

"What if it's _not?"_ Ryley asks, stopping to turn his gaze on him. "What if it _is_ back? And we're getting sick again? And those people are all going to die?"

There's terror in his gaze, in his heart, that Avery has no idea how to resolve. A nagging at his own head is trying to convince him Ryley might be right. Ryley _can't_ be right though, not this time; he _has_ to be wrong about this.

"It'll be fine." He murmurs, and swims past Ryley, trying to push any doubts to the back of his mind. After a moment, he hears Ryley follow him. He didn't seem any more relieved; Avery almost thinks he's _more_ anxious now.

The swim back was uneventful beyond that. Avery spotted the faint shadow of something far, far from them, once - but it didn't get any closer, and Avery was more than cautious to ensure he and Ryley did not get any closer.

It wasn't until he stepped through the base's hatch did he realize that he'd have to explain Bart's disappearance. Again. Remembering the last time he'd told them all Bart wasn't with him..

A faint buzz in the back of his head - _thankfully_ \- shakes him of the memories. A window in the far side of the room shows him one of the Emperors, floating slowly around the base.

"How many times are you going to run off before you learn to _think?"_ A voice anxiously pipes up, and Avery glances over to see Ozzy glaring at Ryley.

"We told Milo we were leaving," Ryley defends himself, though Avery can feel guilt on him.

"That's only one person!"

"Where's Bart?" Roman asks, approaching the group. He doesn't seem particularly worried - more curious than anything. However, as if they hadn't noticed at first, the question sends a jolt of distress through Ozzy.

"He's fine!" Ryley quickly assures them, "He.. uh," Ryley turns his gaze to Avery, as if asking for help. Honestly, though, Avery wasn't quite sure how word it, either. Would any of them remember Marguerit, let alone trust her? Avery didn't trust her himself - why would anyone else? What if he told them of how they met her to begin with? Jochi would surely want to go after Bart regardless of what Avery told him, if he was even slightly uncertain about Marguerit. Avery manages a shrug, and Ryley blinks before continuing, "He kind of ran off with Marguerit. She was the person in the Prawn suit."

Ah. That was a direct way to say it.

"Marguerit? Marguerit as in Marguerit _Maida?"_ Emily asks, and Avery jumps at her voice. He hadn't seen her - how long had she been there? Feeling a hint of embarrassment he hopes nobody picks up on, he nods.

Emily stares at him for a second. "I thought Bart said she was dead?"

"She was killed by a reaper, if I remember correctly," Roman adds nonchalantly.

Ozzy scoffs. "Clearly not, else she wouldn't be _here,_ piloting a _Prawn suit."_

"His friend is indeed still alive," The buzzing gets slightly louder in the back of his head for a second before he hears Mariana's voice. _"He will be safe with her,"_

The Emperor's reassurance cuts deeper than Avery thought it would, and he feels deeply relieved to let some of his stress go.

_"She is not the threat here for us,"_ Mariana continues, ominously, and Avery's anxieties instantly return. Emily shares a glance with Roman.

Ryley takes a step forward and peers out the window to meet the Emperor's eyes. Avery can just almost make out the sound of his voice, a faint whisper, too quiet to make out, in his head. He can't tell if he imagined it or not.

_"Yes,"_ Mariana says, their voice soft and almost comforting. _"It is still here. It is different here. We are unsure if we are able to stop it."_

Avery feels a surge of different emotions from Ryley, and starts to feel unsure of where his emotions start and where the other's end. For a moment, he feels terribly burdened by it, always knowing how everyone else is feeling. He tries to convince himself that now wasn't the time to wallow in his own problems.

"Stop what?" Emily murmurs, her tone a quiet fear that Avery's never heard from her before. "What's here?"

The buzzing in his head disappears, and Mariana swims past the window and out of view.

"Ryley?" Emily asks.

There's a long stretch of silence, Ryley staring off at the window, but Avery's convinced he's not paying any attention to the water outside.

Finally, Ryley whispers an answer, just loud enough for them to hear him, "The Kharra," He says, "The Kharra is back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo uhhhhhhh oops my hand slipped and i infected the whole planet again sorry boss


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN, SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, YA'LL GET A DOUBLE CHAPTER SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR READING I LOVE YOU HAVE A GOOD NIGHT

"..After the eggs hatched, we ended up taking care of them. Two of them followed us here, Mariana and Boo."

"Boo? Who named them?"

Bart slides down a short sheet of ice, and eyes the Prawn suit for a second. "It was a group effort. C'mon, they aren't _that_ bad. The Emperors like them!"

Marguerit hums, and Bart rolls his eyes. Another wave of affection overwhelms him for a second, as he watches the metal suit take a few steps forward. They were nearing the end of the mountainous terrain. Bart tries and fails to suppress a shiver as a cold wind blows over him. Really, the cold doesn't bother him that much though, not right now. How could anything bother him right now? Marguerit was _alive!_

"What led you over here, then?" Marguerit asks once Bart quickly catches up with her. "You make it seem like everything was going well enough back there. Why leave?"

Bart hesitates for moment. He had never told Marguerit about his dreams back on the crater - he'd been too worried that he was the only one having them, that his father would never let him leave the habitat at all if he thought Bart was ill. They'd have all picked fights with each other about it, Bart had been certain of that fact back then. Now, everything was.. different. Maybe Marguerit had the strange dreams herself. How would Bart know?

But if she hadn't, would she even believe they meant anything at all? Bart's certain they aren't just dreams - not after everything he's seen. Not after so much of it actually _happened_. Ryley's had the dreams himself, too - and Avery took them seriously enough. Bart was sure that the rest of the group at least cared enough to acknowledge that the dreams meant something to him. They all listened. Marguerit would listen, too, wouldn't she? Bart doesn't see why she wouldn't. She's listened to everything else he's told her so far.

"Kid?" Marguerit prompts, and Bart realizes he'd started daydreaming. He tries to force himself back into focus, into the real world. Marguerit would believe him.

"Ryley had a vision," He starts, and tells her much of the story. The drive over, the reoccurring dreams, Ryley's disappearance.. "We were thinking it has something to do with the Precursors," Bart finishes, just as the jump onto solid ground below, finally off of the cliffs and outcrops of the mountain, "Ryley thought it was one talking to him, at least."

Marguerit is quiet for a long moment, and the two continue to walk towards the water. The ice was breaking up into smaller pieces here, floating further and further out to sea. Small creatures that looked very similar to a penguin were standing in groups on the ice sheets. Some were smaller than others, huddling close to the taller ones for warmth. The sight somehow manages to make him smile, and make him feel strangely lonely at the same time.

"Could be," Marguerit answers at last, "Plenty of alien bases around here. Not so sure one of them talked to your friend, though. No sign of any of 'em still here, not in ten years."

Bart feels.. almost disappointed by that. Surely this was the right place? Ryley heard something, something not human. There didn't seem to be other Emperors' here. What could it have been if it wasn't a Precursor?

"None at all?" He asks half halfheartedly. Marguerit doesn't answer. The silence creates a hole of anxiety in Bart's chest. Surely Marguerit would want to talk to him more? Did she not like him anymore? The thought makes him forget how to breath for a second. What did he do wrong?

Quickly, he changes the subject. "When did you get a habitat builder? You didn't have one when.." Bart trails off, and gestures vaguely with his hands. "You didn't have one." He settles for.

Thankfully, Marguerit doesn't comment on the pause. "I didn't have one. I stole one."

Bart knows stealing is wrong, _obviously,_ but he can't stop the strong sense of fondness over the blunt honesty, and he truly does not care that she did. It briefly occurs to him that she must have stolen it from the other Alterran survivors. The group and her must have crossed paths many times by now.

"What did you do before you built one?" Bart asks, struggling ever so slightly to keep up with the Prawn suit.

"Slept in caves," She pauses at the water's edge, "Then the alien bases, once we found those."

Bart looks at her. _"'we'?"_

Marguerit scoffs. "Lucky for him, he finally got off his ass and did something. If he hadn't, I'd have left him for dead first chance I got."

Bart guesses he should have asked about him before, but the thought of Marguerit telling him she survived alone was awfully scary. Now, he's not sure if he's even that happy. _That_ thought scares him, too.

He should care about if he'd lived or not. Instead, he feels nauseously anxious and bitter. Bart shouldn't blame him, because how could he have possibly know any of this would happen? If he had, surely he'd have never come to this planet?

Even so, Bart can't help the twinge of anger. So many people had died, or had been forced to give up their way of life and settle for this place. So _much_ life was lost. The radiation from the Aurora alone... what if they hadn't stopped it quicker? What if they were too late to save much of anything anyways? The crash site would house that metal for so, _so_ long - hardly anything could live there now. Who knows if anything will be able to live there ever again?

It could have been prevented. The Sunbeam, the Aurora, the Vesper... it all could have been prevented.

Bart shouldn't blame him. But there was so much he'd been forced to live with, to accept - things he still _hasn't_ been able to accept. There was so much about him that he'd never get back, so much that changed him for good. Change he feels he unfairly went through alone, change he shouldn't have gone through when he was still hardly more than a naive teenager. And he was thinking only of himself - so many others had it worse, didn't they?

Bart shouldn't blame him, because he knows that there has always been more at play than just the captain of the Degasi's choice a decade ago, but Bart _does_ blame him, because he has _every right to._

"He'll be glad to see you again," Marguerit adds, without looking at Bart. She continues into the water, and Bart doesn't dare let her out of his sights yet, the thought of possibly losing her again too much for him to bare, so he follows after her without hesitation. He wonders that if it were his father in front of him, if he'd have done the same. If he'd have the same scared determination to stay nearby. He tells himself he would, that he'd do all of this for him as well.

He hopes he would.

The Prawn suit sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor as it always does, and Bart struggles even more to keep up underwater than he did on land. Not to mention he'd have to go up for air, which meant traveling away from Marguerit, and just the thought of doing that strikes anxiety into his stomach. When he does eventually force himself back to the surface, he's thankful to find that Marguerit didn't move forward at all while waiting. It seems oddly considerate, even though it was something so small that Bart thought most people would have done the same anyways.

Bart sees many fish he hadn't seen before as they travel. Some stop to stare at him and Marguerit, some take one glance at the Prawn suit and quickly swim the other direction. Most don't pay much attention to them at all. None seemed aggressive, at the very least. It surprises Bart that they're leaving them alone - on the crater, it didn't seem like you could go more than a hundred meters anywhere without _something_ trying to attack you.

At one point, they pass something large and un-moving. Marguerit doesn't so much as glance at it, but Bart pauses to stare.

It looked.. metallic. Places that looked like windows had large patches of broken glass jutting out. Moss was growing over most of it, and some of the cracks in the metal had plants growing out of it. It must have been old, sitting in that spot for years and years.

It takes Bart a moment to realize it was a ship. Or once was one - it hardly looked like one at all anymore. He has no idea how long ago it must have crashed, but it surely couldn't have been the Vesper.

With a feeling of dread, Bart starts to wonder just how many people had died on this planet after being shot down. Howerer long it had been happening. He'd never know - who possibly could? The three of them probably survived longer than anyone else ever had. But how could he know that, either?

He hopes whoever was in this ship was still alive. Maybe they were.

Marguerit hadn't mentioned anyone before the Vesper; she seemed to have only met the other Alterrans. Surely if this group was still around Marguerit would have seen some sign of them by now?

Bart pushes the thought away, and swims past the wrecked ship, trying to ignore the pit of anxiety in his stomach.

They make their way through some sort of tunnel, the walls of it lined with things that turned to look at them as they passed. They were tiny - but there must have been hundreds of them all sitting together. The watchfulness was uncomfortable as he followed Marguerit, until finally the tunnel opened up into a small cave.

A plateau sat in the middle of the cave, and Bart stared at the habitat built upon it. It seemed about the same size as the old one's they built all those years ago - some of the parts slightly different, he thinks. They must have been updated in the past few years. Marguerit would have access to new blueprints, wouldn't she?

There's a moonpool off to one side that Marguerit starts to head towards. Closer to the base, Bart can't see any hatches built into it - the Moonpool must be the only way in or out.

Bart coughs as he rises above the water, and pause for a moment to catch his breath. Marguerit eyes him as she comes into his view, and Bart forces himself to heave himself out of the water. It felt oddly difficult to do, and he finds himself wanting less and less to walk further into the base. He tries to convince himself that he's simply tired - he's swam so much the past few days.

But he's been swimming further in less time for _years_ now.

He ignores that thought.

They walk past a door that Marguerit enters a code to, and Bart doesn't pay any attention to what she typed in. He hesitates once the door opens, but follows Marguerit all the same.

"Chief?" Marguerit calls, and as much as Bart feels guilty for doing so, he _really_ hopes there is no answer.

But alas, a voice calls back, "What do you want?", all too familiar, evoking a wave of different emotions. _I can't see him right now,_ Bart thinks, panicked. He needs to think over what he should say - he looks too tired, too sick - what if he can tell Bart is anything other than ecstatic to see him? _I can't do this._

He simply freezes to the spot as Marguerit calls for his father again, and she takes a few steps away from him. Bart hears quick footsteps, and a strange wolf creature runs out, circling Marguerit while making chirping noises. Bart barely takes note of it anymore than that, as a few moments later a human walks in after them.

"I'm busy, you-" His father starts, cutting off when Bart catches his gaze. Bart simply stares back silently, and Paul blinks once, twice - as if he didn't believe what he was seeing. Bart can't blame him for that. He had thought for years that the two of them were dead, too.

Finally, Bart finds his voice, "..Hi."

It sounds awkward, and his voice is unfamiliar to his own ears, and Bart almost cringes just because of the one word. Marguerit and Paul do not seem to notice. Paul steps forward, silently, until he stood in front of Bart. He glances at Marguerit, and the two seem to share something, some unspoken comment or joke or something, something Bart can't decipher.

Then Paul places a hand on his shoulder. "You're alive," He murmurs, with an all-too-obviously contained smile. And Bart remembers why he was so bitter, so unwilling to see him again.

"I am," Bart replies, curtly. Couldn't his father do anything to indicate he was actually happy to see him alive? Anything more than a pat on the shoulder? Anything more than two words? Bart was his son. He thought his son was dead for a decade, and his reaction to finding him alive was this?

Neither Paul nor Marguerit seem to notice Bart's tone. If they did, neither gave any indication that they cared. Bart isn't sure which one makes his chest ache more.

"We need to track down the alien bases," Marguerit says, straight to the point. "Every one we've found."

Paul blinks at her, and Bart waits for some retort. Instead, he simply asks, "Why?"

"Kid's looking for something vague that might be in one."

Paul rolls his eyes. "Ah,"

Marguerit turns away, heading down a different corridor, the wolf creature following happily after her. "I'll check my PDA for anything. You two search the terminal." She says over her shoulder, and for a moment Bart almost asks to go with her instead, but she walks too far for him to bother, and his father was already heading back the way he had come from. Bart trails after his father, and tries to get himself to care just a bit more. Surely Paul was happy to see him? Maybe he just didn't want Marguerit to see him react. Maybe they still didn't get along.

They enter a small room, just a bit larger than a glass observatory would be, and in the the back of the room a faintly glowing stand lay. Some parts of it looked rough, some looked unfinished and hurriedly put together. Some wires poked through in a few small cracks. Despite the damage, it looked very similar to Precursor tech.

"We took some things apart and brought it back here," Paul says, pausing to look back at Bart. "It works like a PDA, but it can encrypt their language better. More space, too." He looks almost proud of the contraption, and walks up to the terminal. It makes some noises that range in pitches, but it appears to work fine from what Bart can see of it. He hangs back a bit from his father, keeping his gaze pointedly away from him.

They fall into a silence that lasts only a few seconds before Bart breaks it. "You could at least _pretend_ you're happy to see me."

Paul pauses, and glances over his shoulder. Bart does not meet his eyes.

"I _am_ happy to see you," Paul answers. "What could possibly make you think I'm not?"

"You've barely said anything to me."

"It's hardly been two minutes."

Bart scoffs. "Marguerit said more to me,"

Paul rolls his eyes. "So what? You're my son. How could I not be happy to see you alive?"

Bart finally glances up at his father. "I'm your _heir._ That's all you've ever been concerned about. The company."

The two of them stare at each other for a few moments that seem to stretch into eternity. Each passing millisecond where is father does not disagree, says _nothing_ to Bart's accusation, makes Bart all the more certain he's right. Finally, Paul looks away from him with a huff.

Bart stares at the back of his head. "That's why you've never paid any attention to my siblings. They were half-siblings. You didn't want them to lead it."

"You will make a great leader," Paul says instead, avoiding everything Bart was saying.

"I'm not going back to Mongolia. I'm definitely not going back to the Corp. Any of my siblings would make better leaders than I."

Paul doesn't say anything. He flips between holographic folders, looking as if his life depended on it. Like he wanted to find any info on the Precursors as quickly as possible.

He didn't want to speak with Bart. He doesn't care.

"If you cared to do more than send them a single email on their birthdays, you'd realize that. They all _resent_ me, just because I get to have the company. A company I don't want, and have _never_ wanted. They never got so much as a chance for something they'd kill to have, and I get that exact thing without any effort, without even _wanting_ it, all because of who my parents were. Doesn't that bother you? That my siblings hate me just because I'm your heir, and they get thrown to the side like they're nothing?"

"Judging by how _you_ seem to feel about me, maybe they're lucky I didn't raise them." Paul snaps, and Bart feels even more bitterness grow.

"They're still your kids," Bart says, his voice stiff, "If you cared about me because I'm your son, then you would care for them. You don't."

"How would you know how I feel?"

"Good question," Bart snorts, "Considering that you never talk to me about anything but the company!"

"I've only ever done my best."

"Your best has gotten hundreds of people killed or stranded on this planet! Your best ruined my life for years!" Bart snarls. "It's your fault that we're stuck on this planet, that all of this happened, and you _don't care!"_ Bart's voice raises, and he finds it hard to convince himself to care. He didn't care if Marguerit overheard, if his father got even angrier with him. Bart wanted nothing more than for his father to finally realize his faults.

And his father does not respond. He keeps flipping through the folders, his jaw noticeably strained, his hands flipping through the screens harsher than they needed to. Bart continues to stare at him, glaring daggers into the back of his skull. He hopes Paul knows. He hopes Paul _finally_ knows. If he did not, Bart's not sure they could salvage it. The amount of misunderstood years of bitterness and secrecy and the company, the company, think of the _company,_ of your reputation, of your grades, of the _public_ \- there was too much anger in Bart's chest to forgive him if he did not see what he's done. He's not sure he can forgive him even if he did see it.

The silence stretches, and Bart knows that not even a full minute has passed, but it feels like an eternity all the same. And in that silence, guilt starts to creep on him. Was he being too harsh? They had only seen each other for a few short minutes. Maybe he should have waited to say something. Maybe he should have tried harder to be happy.

No, he tells himself. No, he was right. He had every right to point out these flaws. They had bothered Bart for nearly his entire life, and he had wished and wished that he'd said something sooner, because if he had a decade ago they might never have crashed here. He had every right to say something. And his father should be doing more than ignoring what he was saying. Apologizing now would make him think that Bart forgave him, and then he would never change. Bart knows that is what would happen. He knows his father.

Paul clears his throat.

"How important is it you find whatever you're looking for?" He asks. Bart's not sure if he's purposefully being vague to make Bart feel worse, or if he just genuinely didn't know how important the Precursors were.

The holographic screen shifts slightly, to a different screen that Bart can't clearly make out. "Very important," he responds.

"Then we'll talk later." His father says matter-of-factly, giving no leeway for Bart to argue further. Bart expects some commanding follow-up comment that would make Bart grind his teeth together, but Paul doesn't say anything else. He shifts through the screen instead - and Bart thinks that this silence where he stood doing nothing behind his father would definitely be a good time to talk - but the two fall into a silence that has plagued them for years upon years. Insufferable silence.

The silence is broken by a short bark from behind him. Bart glances over and sees the wolf creature walk into the room, it's tail wagging. It pauses for a second to stare at Bart, and sniffs cautiously at him, before walking past to sit next to Paul. Only a moment later does Bart see Marguerit walk through the hallway after it. She catches his eye for a second, but looks away again without saying anything. Bart can only assume she overheard them arguing. He feels another twinge of guilt.

But for months upon months, Bart had been forced to overhear Marguerit and Paul arguing day after day, over _everything_. Surely she didn't mind.

"We haven't recorded many of these caves," Marguerit says, after a cough.

"There wasn't ever much of a point in recording most of anything," Paul replies, glancing briefly over his shoulder. His gaze only sticks to Bart for a fraction of a moment before looking away again. Marguerit shrugs, clearly ignoring the tension in the air. "It's a start, at least."

"Better than trying to find 'em off memory," Marguerit agrees. Bart looks between the two of them, some of his bitterness giving in to curiosity. He'd never managed to get his father and Marguerit to get along at all - seeing them not argue was... strange to Bart. Especially since Paul was surely in a bad mood after everything Bart just said to him? Bart would have to ask about the change later.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bart adds, trying hard to keep his voice steady. He doubts he's very convincing, but neither of them say anything about it. Without another word passing between any of them, the hologram screen fades away, and the wolf creature scuttles away while still wagging its tail; Marguerit follows soon after it. Bart pauses before following them, meeting his father's gaze again. Bart doesn't say anything to him, and he receives nothing himself.

Paul walks past him.

Bart stands in place for a brief moment, trying desperately to convince himself that he was overreacting, that his father was not as bad as his head was trying to tell him he was. Bart doesn't want to have more strained or destroyed relationships. He doesn't want to lose another member of his already small family.

But Paul walks past him, and says nothing at all, and Bart's heart cracks and he's not even sure if he actually blames his father or if he blames himself anymore. His heart cracks and he's not sure if it's because of today or yesterday or ten years ago. He's not sure how long he's been upset, or angry, or any of the things he feels right now.

"Kid?" Marguerit faintly calls, and Bart blinks, trying to get the thoughts plaguing his mind to disappear long enough for him to concentrate on the present. What was important.

He turns, and quickly follows after the two that walked out before him. He needed to focus.

For Ryley.


	9. Chapter 8

"I think I actually preferred the crater to this, honestly," an accented voice complains as the wind further howls around them. Danby can't quiet disagree with the sentiment - the crater was much, _much_ warmer, that much was true. But Danby would rather deal with a chill than the horrible purplish water that he'd dealt with when his lifepod sunk. Simply thinking of it makes him shiver.

..Maybe that was the cold; it was hard to tell anymore.

"No, I definitely like this better," Milo adds in, walking close by Danby's side, "No Crabsquids over here."

"You don't know that. Maybe we just haven't found them yet." Jochi replies.

Milo groans. "Don't even _joke_ about that. If I went my entire life without seeing one of those things again, it would be too soon."

Danby doesn't exactly share his fears. He understands completely where he's coming from, however. He remembers the eels and sharks swimming around outside his pod; he could still clearly hear the zaps sent through the water, could see the sharks headbutting into the pod and shaking the entire thing with the force of it. There were reapers roaring in the distance, and mesmers that would try to catch his gaze from inside the pod. He remembers something distorted and chirpy, but whatever that noise was, he had only heard it a few times down there, and he can't recall ever seeing where it was coming from.

 _Yes,_ he supposes. _This place is better._ This part of the ocean was far from that place, far from his still sunken lifepod. Far from sight of their destroyed spaceship. Being able to look out a window and see that thing every single morning brought Danby nothing but pain.

"Ryley got lucky, landing in the shallows," Danby muses, just loud enough to count as contributing to the conversation.

Milo snorts. "Ryley's got lucky during _everything._ Feels like he barely had to work at all. And he doesn't have to deal with a pointless.. _whatever_ this thing is that reminds him constantly of whatever he hates most."

The words are bitter, and Danby winces at the tone. He supposes Milo had a point in his feelings, though; Bart could barely sleep with how often his dreams were plagued with visions of something. Avery seemed burdened with a similar inability to escape the thoughts of others. Danby himself was constantly shocking himself, constantly hearing his heartbeat randomly speed up or slow down to dangerous speeds; and every time that happened, Emily seemed to miraculously know, was always able to tell when one of those eels were approaching them or a seamoth was heading towards them.

Milo had to deal with skin that would glow with even the faintest touch. It would glow a bright blue. It was such a similar shade to the Crabsquids and Ghosts that Danby is certain it bothers Milo much, _much_ more than he lets on, and he already complains _extensively_ about it.

And Ryley could hear really well. It didn't keep him up at night, or worry at his mind all day, or cause him physical pain. Danby can't help but feel an ounce of resentment, either.

"Ryley was able to hear everyone in their lifepod's dying. And it took him weeks to get used to it. Don't you remember how bad he used to be?" Jochi jumps to Ryley's defense, turning to fix a stare at Milo. He glances over at Danby, and he instantly feels guilty. He shouldn't be blaming Ryley for something he didn't have any control over. "Poor kid still wakes up anytime someone so much as snores for half a second. He didn't get lucky."

"He got lucky in comparison to the rest of us," Milo stubbornly replies.

"If any of us got lucky in comparison, it would be me or Ozzy. What exactly have _they_ had to deal with, that you've noticed?"

Milo falls silent with that, and Danby isn't sure if it makes him feel even worse for agreeing with Milo, or if it makes him angrier at Jochi. His toned seemed to be _accusing_ Ozzy. None of this was _any_ of their faults! They didn't get to chose what happened to them!

"I guess," Milo replies at last, a hint of something in his voice, but Danby doesn't get very much time to dwell on it before Milo changes the subject. "Are we almost there yet?"

Jochi hums, "How long have we been walking?"

"Feels like forever." Milo says, with a yawn.

Danby answers the question instead. "Around 20 minutes, I would guess."

"Then yes, we should be almost there."

Danby.. wasn't exactly sure where they were even going. Jochi and Milo had only said they were going out, and well, their current habitat was still small - as much as Danby enjoyed the company of the group he found himself growing surprisingly attached to, the confined space had started to get to him. Danby followed them just for an excuse to leave for a while.

He thinks he should be resting still. He's almost certain that went doubly for Ryley. But Ryley seemed to be doing well enough, and Danby's ribs only kind of still ached, so he should be fine, right? He struggles to remember anything that he was told in medical school. But of everything he could just vaguely remember, gave him no answer for his ribs or Ryley's hypothermia.

He had lied back then, and he was lying still. Faking what was best for either of them. Telling Avery and Bart and Ozzy things that he was almost making up on the spot. He winces at the memory.

"Is it always this bad?" Milo asks suddenly, and Danby glancing up to see him staring. For a moment, confusion clouds his mind. Did he see him flinch? Could he tell what he was thinking? Sometimes it felt like Avery and Bart knew exactly what someone was thinking about. A wave of panic rises in his chest.

Milo blinked. "The weather?" He prompts. Danby blinks. _Of course!_ He quickly shrugs.

"Maybe it's just finally turning winter?"

Milo hums. "Bart would know how cold it usually gets." He murmurs the words, almost to himself.

"I'll ask him when we get back," Danby replies. Ryley had left with Avery and Bart around sunrise; Danby assumes they'll be back before him.

Danby glances at the sky. The sun was high above them. It had to have been several hours since they left. He feels that being out for so long in weather like this would be bad for them - he worries especially for Ryley - but he had no idea where they went, so he just had to hope they were fine.

Another strong gust of wind roars past, hitting his face and making it difficult to breathe for a few moments. Hopefully _they_ would be fine, too.

* * *

"Over here!" Milo calls. Danby nearly slips off the ice he was cautiously trying to walk over. He glances down from the snow pile, trying to see where Milo was. As his gaze searches what almost seems like endless white, Jochi slides down past him.

"This way," He says as he passes, and Danby stares down after him for a moment before cautiously following the exact trail of flattened snow, testing his footing before setting all his weight down on nearly every step.

By the time he makes it back to solid ground, Jochi and Milo are nowhere to be found. Danby sighs, and settles for following their footsteps. Once again, he finds that Ryley _did_ seem to have the best mutation; he'd have been able to hear where he could walk without breaking through the ice, and he'd be able to hear exactly where the two had ran off to. He wouldn't have to hope it didn't start snowing and cover the path he was following.

He remembers their previous conversation, and feels a bit guilty again. If Danby could hear all that, he'd be paranoid over every little thing _everyone_ did. If he could hear every creak of ice, he'd never set foot outside.

The trail only continues for a minute before ending at an entrance into a tunnel. Danby eyes it for a moment, wondering if it were the same one that Ryley had found just a few days back. But there weren't mountains covering most of the terrain here, and Danby doesn't find anything around here to be familiar at all.

How many tunnels and caves are there around here? He wonders as he walks into the darkness. He takes more careful, hesitant footsteps, slowly walking forward, until he can hear voices ahead. It almost seems to be getting lighter, and he hurries just a bit more until the tunnel opens up into a cave.

Danby freezes and blinks at the sight.

In front of him lay a giant sheet of ice. Encased inside was some four-legged leviathan he had never seen before; and he hopes to never have to. It seemed even larger than most of the leviathans they'd encountered in the water, its teeth and tusks clearly visible and clearly large enough to kill all three of them with ease. The thought sends a jolt of terror down his spine. Its eyes were still open. They seemed to be looking right at him.

"Kinda cool looking when it can't get you, right?" Milo asks, snapping Danby's gaze away from the ice to look at him. Jochi seemed vaguely uncomfortable, as if he had Danby's same worried thoughts plaguing his mind. "Almost like a museum."

Tunnels went straight through the ice, curving away until Danby couldn't see through it to the other side. It seemed more man-made than natural, but Danby can't imagine any human being on the planet long enough to do so - nor can he imagine any reason why someone would bother carving a tunnel through.

"..How did you know this was here?" Danby asks, walking closer to them. The ice leviathan towered over them from this angle, and Danby hated the feeling of having to crane his neck up just to glimpse anything other than its legs. Although, maybe he just hated leviathans in general at this point.

Jochi shrugs. "We didn't. Milo just happened to find it." Milo nods, continuing to stare up at the leviathan, and Danby is.. perplexed over how entertained he seemed to be by it.

"We should explore more." Milo suggests, finally tearing his gaze away to glance at Danby and Jochi. "There's gotta be dozens of different tunnels here,"

Danby opens his mouth to object - he thinks he'd much rather go home now that he's seen this thing - but before he gets a chance to, Jochi hums and replies, "I suppose there might be something of use-"

"Then I'll meet you back here in 10." Milo interrupts, walking away through the tunnel of ice that leads underneath the leviathan before he'd even managed to finish his sentence.

Danby watches him speed off, and Jochi sighs. "Don't get lost," He says, and walks off in a different direction. Danby watches until he'd faded from sight in the darkness, before looking around the cave. Milo was right; there were several different holes in the walls, some small enough that Danby didn't think any human could possibly fit through them, some large enough that he assumes it must have been made by one of the snake leviathans they'd encountered before. Danby glances around for a few more moments, before admitting defeat and choosing a random one to walk through.

It wasn't too dark down it, some small holes of light piercing through the ceiling. Snow piled up at some areas, half melted and filling the floor of the tunnel with sludge and water. As the tunnel slopes downwards, the water gets just a bit higher, and Danby continues on slowly, ready to turn and run back at a moment's notice.

Then, he hears something, just slightly over the sound of splashing water. He pauses and listens hard. He hears it again, a bit louder than before.

It was a voice. Milo and Jochi _definitely_ took different tunnels, hadn't they? Maybe they all connected back up.

Hesitantly, Danby follows the sound. It sounded familiar, but it was still too quiet and far away for Danby to tell exactly who it was.

The tunnel slopes back up a bit, and the water starts to disappear, but the snow piled at the sides of the walls was mostly the same. Some of the snow was simply laying in the middle of the tunnel. There's steps in it. Two pairs of footprints.

Danby pauses for a second once he realizes that. There was no other path in the tunnel so far - Milo and Jochi couldn't have left them. They were facing the same direction that Danby was walking. Was someone else in the cave with them? The only other people that Danby knew were out were Ryley, Avery, and Bart - but that would have left three sets of footprints, surely? Maybe one of them just followed in another's exact steps. But why in the name of Alterra would they do that, though? Confused, Danby considers turning back.

The snow would have melted if it was old - the tracks must have been left sometime recently. Maybe it was some of the Vesper members? The thought reassures him. Why would he be so concerned anyway? It was clearly a human that had been here - none of the people on the planet were a threat.

And as the voice becomes a bit clearer, Danby realizes it was Jeffreys. _See?_ He thinks to himself. _Nothing to worry about. You know who that is._

He turns a corner, and the tunnel opens up again into a cave much smaller than the one with the leviathan. He was standing up on a ledge, and could look down into the cave.

It was mostly empty, but a large hole in the roof let in sunlight. Snow covered the floors, and a pool of water that looked to only be lightly frozen over lay in one side of the wall. Several desks were set up in the room; papers, small containers, and coats were lying across most of them. A single PDA sits on one of the desks by its lonesome.

Danby blinks.

The PDA had something red splattered over the screen.

His gaze scans to the other side of the room. Jeffrey was pacing in front of something. He was talking.

"You'd have done the same thing," He says, his voice cracking, and he sounds like he's trying hard to convince himself, "You wouldn't have even _hesitated."_

More red was stained over his shirt, stained on his face. Danby glances at what was in front of him.

He sees open eyes that stare at nothing. Red was steadily streaming from their throat. Danby takes a quick step backwards, shaking. He unsettles a rock that had been sitting in a pile of snow beside him, and it topples down the ledge into the cave below.

Danby freezes.

Jeffrey's stops pacing immediately, his eyes snapping up and meeting Danby's gaze.

Neither of them move for what feels like an eternity. Jeffrey's gaze looks terrified. Danby feels sick to his stomach.

Finally gaining the use of his legs, Danby turns.

And he _runs._

He hears frantic footsteps behind him, and Danby does not _dare_ look behind him. The ledge gave him some extra time.

Danby does not stop running. He needed to find Milo and Jochi. He needed to find Ryley, and Avery, and Bart. He needed to get back to the habitat. Danby does not stop running.

The darkness starts to turn just a bit lighter again. Something slides out of the darkness in front of him, and Danby just barely manages to stop himself from running full speed into it.

Jeffreys stands only a meter in front of him. There's a bloodied knife in his hand. Danby would rather deal with the leviathan in the ice cave.

"I know these tunnels way better than you," Jeffrey says, barely out of breath.

Danby doesn't reply. Danby can hardly draw in oxygen.

"You don't understand." He goes on. "Don't you _dare_ say _anything_ about this."

"You killed him." Danby whispers.

"I _had_ to." Jeff snaps. Danby still can't tell if he believed that himself.

Jeffrey takes a step forward, and Danby takes two back.

"Don't say anything." He repeats.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Danby dares to ask. Jeffrey pauses.

"I don't want to hurt anyone else." He says, very quietly. "But I don't think you'll want the others to know about you've _all_ but faked your degree."

His voice was thick with warning, and Danby flinches back. His head was spinning. How could he know? Roman had deleted the file.

"Every PDA entry gets sent back to Alterra's servers. They know of everything you've all written. Everything you've said." His voice fades into anger at the end of the sentence, "They didn't send us out here to rescue you by any means. They have everything about this planet they need to know."

Danby simply stares at him.

"Maxim would have sold us all out. It's better if Alterra thinks we all died. Maybe then they'll think it's impossible to survive this damned planet. I had to make sure he didn't ruin our chances!" His voice raises. Danby struggles to get his voice back.

"I can't let you sell us out, either. Neither of us need to say anything. We'll all die. Or worst."

There's a beat of silence.

"I won't hesitate to make sacrifices for the good of the group. I'm the only one that will."

They both stare at each other for a moment. Danby isn't sure if it was only a short moment, or if it stretched out for longer than it felt like to him. He just knows he wants to get out of there. Quickly.

"Okay," He agrees, "Alright,"

Jeffrey takes a step to the side, and watches Danby closely as he walks as quickly as he can past him. Jeffrey grabs his arm as he passes, and Danby's heart leaps to his throat.

"I'm serious. Not a word. Not any hints. Not to _anyone."_

Danby looks into his eyes. Blood still stained his face, the smell of it choking Danby.

"I know," he says quickly, and rips his arm away, and continues out of the tunnel as fast as he could.

He reaches the ice cave again, and pauses to gain his breath. Panic still gripped his chest. His entire body was shaking. His ears were ringing. His ribs hurt.

He hears footsteps from in front of him, and jumps, his eyes frantically looking around for the source. A moment later, Milo walks out from the ice tunnel. He eyes Danby for a long moment, before walking closer.

"Are you okay? You look like you've seen a damn Crabsquid." Milo murmurs.

_Jeffreys killed Maxim._

The words are stuck in his throat, and Danby wants _so much_ to say something. Terror for Milo, for Jochi, for everyone - terror engulfs him, because if he says something, maybe Jeffrey's will kill someone else, and it would be Danby's fault for not just listening to what he was told to do. He can't handle the thought of more people dying - he's dealt with more than enough death, and the thought of even a single one more is enough to make Danby feel like he's _drowning._

"Just.." He pauses for a second, trying to think, "I saw something alive down one of the tunnels. Chased me for a bit."

Milo blinks, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "We probably shouldn't have split up. God, sorry."

Danby feels so guilty that he thinks he might never feel alright again. How much more was he going to lie to everyone?

"We could have just followed you, nobody decided to split up," A voice from behind Milo speaks up, and Danby glances over to see Jochi approaching them. He glances at Danby, and nods at him, "Nobody was hurt, at least."

"It might still be following us," Milo says, "We should get back to the habitat."

"Yeah," Jochi murmurs, still staring at Danby. He prays that Jochi can't tell that he's lying. "Was anything in the tunnel you went down? Other than whatever attacked you?" He asks suddenly.

Danby's breath gets caught in his throat. "No." He replies quickly. "Just a dead-end."

"My tunnel was cool," Milo says, as the trio walks back to the tunnel entrance that leaves the cave. "You should have seen it!"

Danby lets the words fade into background noise as they walk.

The sight of Maxim's face was glued in his mind.

Danby isn't sure he'll ever be able to sleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is now a good time to mention that i have literally never played below zero and also have very limited probably outdated knowledge on what the map looks like,,, i apologize for any inaccuracies but i do not care enough to perfect the exact map layouts sdn;jnasbhsv
> 
> ANYWAYS OH FUCK THINGS ARE GETTING SPICY NOW


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok ok ok i was totally gonna post this like a week ago?? but i was writing the next chapter before posting it and i. forgot that i wrote this. oops. WELL ANYWAY HERE IT IS HOPE U ENJOY LJNLAJNLDNFLA

Robin watched as Sam paced in the habitat. The sun was starting to set, and they had yet to find Maxim. Jeff had gone out to look for him a few hours before and had not yet returned to the habitat; Robin had no idea where he went, and could do little more than hope he came back soon. The temperatures dropped significantly at night, and they were already cold enough to kill during the day.

"Why would he even leave? He was too sick to leave his bed, and then he just.. vanishes from the habitat?" Sam was murmuring to herself, just loud enough for Robin to overhear. Robin can't give an answer to the questions. She was asking similar ones herself.

"Maybe Jeffrey's found him?" Robin suggests, "Maybe they're on their way back right now."

Sam hums, but doesn't reply. She continues to pace, and Robin doesn't think she believes the idea much if at all.

_Is this not lying?_ A voice says, the noise sounding loud and like a whisper in her ear at the same time.

_It's an_ _idea. What else am I supposed to tell her?_

_What you truly believe._

Robin doesn't bother replying to that. She glances over at Sam again, who hasn't paid anymore attention to her, clearly stuck in her own thoughts, so Robin turns and walks back further into the habitat, towards her room.

_Do you know anything?_ She asks, hoping that she could receive some answer.

_What exactly do you think I could do? I do not have beacons placed upon any of you._

_It was just a question._

_A foolish one.  
_

Robin stares down at the hallway that lead to the room that Maxim had been staying in. When they finally managed to group up after leaving their escape pods, he had insisted on his own room, and had expected them to build it for him. He wouldn't share with any of them, and they spent the few resources they'd managed to find to build the area for him; Maxim had even had a bed sooner than the rest of them.

Robin is conflicted on his disappearance. She doesn't want him to die, and she feels upset for how much Sam was worried about him, but she finds it hard to care all that much herself.

_You are wasting valuable time. Why?_

_I can't just leave right now._

Robin shakes her head, as if it would shake the voice from her head. She knows they won't quiet anytime soon; she grows more exasperated with them with each passing second as they input dialogue that serves no larger purpose than to irritate her.

_It is your fault I am stuck here._

The worst part was that they were right. If she could go back, she could have prevented this. She could have prevented a handful of problems she was stuck with now. Robin groans, and walks a circle, trying to collect her thoughts.

Maxim had been missing for more than eight hours, in negative thirty degree temperatures, and none of them had any idea where he could possibly have gone. There was no trail. They had nothing. All three of them had looked everywhere. Robin had found Ryley and Avery and had warned them to keep an eye out; she hadn't heard anything from them since. Jeffreys had left almost two hours ago and had yet to return. He was ignoring every message Robin or Sam had sent to his PDA.

And the voice in her head had barely shut up during all of it, determined to get Robin to search the research sites; she'd only managed to find one so far, and nothing of use was to be found in it. They've been pressuring for the discovery of another one ever since.

They keep warning of something bad happening, that they only have so much time. Robin isn't sure what exactly is bothering them, as they've been nothing but vague. She didn't even have an idea of how much time she was expected to have; just that there was some limit to it. As much as she scoffs at each small warning, she can't help but feel anxious every moment she spends not doing anything at all.

Staring at the floor right now, with Jeff and Maxim still out, with Sam growing more stressed by the minute, Robin feels that anxiety harsher than ever before.

_"Serik Jevov has entered the habitat."_

The AI's sudden announcement makes Robin pause for a moment. No other name follows, the AI falls silent, and Robin quickly walks back out into the main room of the habitat.

When she enters the room, Jeffrey stood near the hatch, his expression impossible to read. His gaze meets hers for a moment.

"We've looked everywhere," He says, his voice quiet, but it feels as if it were echoing across the entire room. "We have nothing."

Silence follows for a long moment.

"How can _another_ person be gone? Why is this happening?" Sam says slowly, shaking her head.

"Alterra is why this is happening. They should _never_ have sent us here." Jeffrey's replies, his voice sharp. He sounds so determined in the answer that Robin's heart aches. Could it really be that simple? Just simple greed that caused the crashes and the deaths?

_Do you not agree?_ The voice says, sounding almost surprised. Robin ignores them.

"Ryley survived a night outside. Maybe he can, too." Robin murmurs, trying to instill any hope she possibly could in the other two. Maybe if she tries hard enough, she'd believe it herself.

But Jeff looks away for a second, and then takes a few steps into the room, away from the hatch leading outside. "No," He says, still sounding overly confident, "We've looked everywhere. He was already sick, and could barely get out of bed. There's no way he'd make it through the night in that condition." Robin glances at Sam, who sighs defeatedly and crosses her arms. Jeff blinks sympathetically at her, "Maxim might as well be dead. There's nothing else we can do."

Robin desperately tries to think of an argument against the idea, but she struggles to come up with anything. Jeffreys made a point that was logical: Maxim was already dying from whatever illness he'd gotten from the planet. It was unlikely he'd manage very long. Maybe there was a reason they'd hadn't found him yet.

"Then what do we do now?" Sam asks, "We're the only ones left."

The realization makes Robin dizzy for a moment. She'd known that it was only the three of them now, but hearing it said aloud made her feel terribly alone. There had been so many of them on the Vesper. How did so many die so fast? She takes a breath, and tries to make a plan.

"The other survivors," Robin murmurs, "We should group up with them. They've survived for long enough to know what they're doing. Hopefully we figure out a way to get back to Alterra and report to them that this planet isn't safe."

Sam nods, seeming a bit more relieved with at least a start of what to do, but Serik appears more hesitant.

"They seem to get into trouble fairly often. Sticking with them might be dangerous."

"Maybe we should help keep on eye on them, then." Sam replies, and Jeffrey's shrugs without answering again. For a second, Robin thinks she sees a hint of fear in his gaze, but it's gone before she can think much of it.

"We can look for Maxim again in the morning. If we can't find him, then..." Robin trails off, and coughs before finishing, "Then we move on to finding the others."

Jeffrey's still didn't look entirely convinced by the plan, but he didn't say anything else. Robin guessed he was simply stressed - she wouldn't blame him. It felt like more and more people around her were vanishing or dying every week.

There was only three of them left. Jeff, Sam, and herself. Sure, there were the other survivors; but Robin wasn't even sure how many of them there were, and none of them were her coworkers or friends. They were just other Alterrans.

Robin feels suddenly exhausted, as if the weight of responsibility finally set on her shoulders. What would she do if Jeff died? She can scarcely imagine losing him. Just the thought makes her heart ache a bit. Even worst was the thought of _Sam_ dying. Robin has no idea how she'd manage without her sister.

She couldn't do much more than hope that nothing else would happen to the three of them. Robin thinks that they've gone though more than enough.

She retreats back to her room, as the base falls silent again. She sees Maxim's room again, the door wide open, untouched for hours. It already looked abandoned and empty. Robin wasn't friends with Maxim. She didn't think that he had ever cared even slightly for her. Even so, just the part of the room that she can peer into radiates an energy that makes her want to close the door and forget it was ever there at all.

_He had it coming._

Robin doesn't know how they could already have an opinion on Maxim. They'd never known him, and he was stuck in his room the entire time they'd had any chance at getting to. Even so, she finds a small part of her agrees with them. Maxim had always been horrible to them all. He'd especially put Sam on a pedestal, trying to get her to be perfect, berating her for anything that could possibly be perceived as a mistake or flaw.

_He had it coming._ Robin silently agrees.

She hears footsteps from behind her, and glaces back to see Jeffrey's walking up. He pauses beside her, looking at Maxim's door just as she had been a few moments before.

"At least it wasn't one of us," He says, his voice low. Something about it makes Robin's skin crawl. "It's a surprise he lived so long at all."

"What do you mean?"

Jeffrey shrugs. "He never helped out the entire time we'd been stuck here. He never even thanked us. He certainly wouldn't have looked for _us_ if _we_ went missing." His tone is certain and unbothered. Robin didn't think he'd be missing Maxim. She didn't think she'd be missing him much either, but it unnerved her how unconcerned he was.

Robin crosses her arms. "I just hope that he was the last one. I don't want to have to deal with anymore death."

"None of us do."

He sighs quietly, and walks away again. Robin watches him, wondering why she felt so uncomfortable around him all of a sudden. She shakes her head; she was probably just stressed and tired, and being put on edge.

She enters her room again, and grabs her PDA. She'd write down a more comprehensive plan, and look over it on their way to find the other survivors in the morning. She just needed to make sure she didn't forget about something. It needed to be perfect - a plan to make even Maxim proud. If anything went wrong, it could cost a life.

Robin would not let any of the three of them die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeff: *stabs maxim to death*  
> also jeff, returning to the habitat: how could this have happened, our poor friend is missing. well anyways,


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: haha this will just a normal length chapter that i'll finish in like a week or two  
> me:  
> me, a month later, 7,000 words in :(

The sun rises yet again, and Ryley feels impatience fueling him.

When Danby had first returned with Jochi and Milo, Ryley had hardly thought anything of it. He'd been too preoccupied with worry for the Kharra and Bart to pay the three any mind.

Avery, on the other hand, seemed to immediately notice the three. "Anything out there?" He'd asked, before they had all even had a chance to enter the habitat, his gaze flickering over to Danby. Milo had shrugged, Jochi had briefly explained the cave they'd found, and Danby had murmured a reply that vaguely answered before scurrying off. Avery had watched him leave.

"Something's up with Danby," He'd murmured to Ryley. "I can't tell what, but something's bothering him." Ryley had barely paid any attention, but still glanced up after him. He had heard his heartbeat, faster than normal, but it had been changing rapidly recently, so Ryley hadn't put much more thought into it.

"He's probably just worrying over nothing. He was like that a lot on the Aurora." Ryley had said, before he turned to look out the window again, and Avery had hummed but still looked lost in thought as if he could figure Danby's thoughts out if he tried hard enough.

Now, Ryley wishes he'd paid more attention to it, because Danby seemed determined to act like absolutely nothing happened, and that he was simply worried about someone getting hurt or sick. Ryley shared his worries, but those worries also stretched out to Bart; he'd been gone for days now, and Ryley had hardly been out of the habitat. They traveled over here for more reason than to sit in a tinnier habitat than they had back on the island and do nothing at all.

Most of the group was sleeping. They wouldn't all be awake for a while yet. Milo, Avery, and Danby were the only ones up this early. Ryley's gaze sticks to Danby for a second longer than the others. He looked exhausted and miserable, and Ryley finds himself desperately wanting to know what was bothering him so much; he'd hardly slept lately, and everything, from someone walking into his field of view to a fish running into the window to a PDA being accidentally dropped, all seemed to terrify him for a few moments.

Avery seemed to be trying equally as hard to get into his thoughts. But for whatever reason, he couldn't appear to get a read on Danby anymore. He could tell what the rest of them were feeling, almost able to tell what they were thinking about, but nothing on Danby.

Then Avery blinks, and he turns his head to look at Ryley, almost as if Ryley had said his name aloud. Exactly as he had been thinking. Faintly embarrassed, Ryley looks away and tries to will his thoughts away.

Ryley hears footsteps approaching him. He doesn't glance up and instead continues to stare out the window. Although he could very faintly see the sun lighting up the ocean, it seemed almost perpetually dark out even at the best of time.

"You want to leave the habitat?" Avery asks, as if he didn't already know that. Nothing seemed to surprise him anymore.

"Don't you?" Ryley murmurs back instead of answering. Avery hums and shrugs. "I'm worried about Bart." He continues, "Shouldn't he have come back by now?"

"..He hasn't seen Marguerit for a decade, I'm sure he's fine. She seemed to be taking care of herself pretty okay."

Ryley supposes he had a point with that, but he still finds himself longing to get out of the habitat and search for him. Did Bart know about the Kharra? None of them had any chance to tell him about it yet. Maybe Marguerit knew about it. Bart had told her in some of the old Degasi logs, hadn't he? They must know already - maybe Bart was trying to figure it out again, and that's why he hadn't returned. Ryley isn't sure if he hopes that was true or not.

Regardless of any of the reasons, Ryley's heart aches, and he wants nothing more than to ensure that Bart truly was okay. But he couldn't leave the habitat. There was never any time frame where he'd be the only one awake; he'd never manage to sneak out. Danby and Roman wouldn't let him out alone, and they certainly wouldn't agree with letting him run off to go exploring again.

Ryley sighs quietly.

"..I might have a plan." Avery whispers suddenly, and Ryley instantly is interested. "But we'll definitely get in trouble when we get back."

"I get in trouble all the time. That's not a new thing!" Ryley whispers back. He hears Avery just manage to stifle a laugh.

"Alright, fine," He starts, "It's gonna depend on a lot of trust and a lot of luck..."

* * *

They had to wait another day before getting an opportunity that gave them even a slightly chance at escaping the habitat. Ryley can't help but feel it's slightly ridiculous; he felt more like a teenager trying to leave their house after curfew than someone attempting what Emily had deemed a 'rescue mission'.

There was no way they'd ever be the only two awake anytime soon, so Ryley had agreed with Avery's idea to tell someone else their plan. And of course, Milo had ended up telling Emily, because the two seemed incapable of keeping anything from each other. At the very least neither of them seemed keen to tell anyone else.

"If it wasn't for Bart, we'd probably all be dead," Milo had said, hardly thirty minutes ago, "Roman can kill me himself for this and I won't care if it means knowing that he's still alright out there." Emily seemed to share his sentiments as well. For a moment, Ryley can't imagine having better friends, and his heart nearly bursts with pride for what the three of them were willing to do for Bart. Simply because Ryley had asked them to.

Every moment outside the habitat was a danger. It had been since they crashed. They were all constantly in danger, even if they knew what they were doing, they always ran the risk of getting attacked by wild animals, risked drowning, freezing, burning... there was always something out there. They were still ready to risk it all for each other, and Ryley isn't sure that any other knowledge could make him happier to know a group of people.

The sun wasn't quite up yet. Jochi was typing something into his PDA, the consistent tapping of fingernails against glass a strange mixture of too loud to be comfortable and soothing to listen to. Danby was awake where he lay close to Ozzy, his heart beating fast, his breathing slightly uneven. He'd just been awoken, Ryley assumes by a nightmare. He feels another pang of sympathy and wishes desperately that he could do something to help him, but Ryley can't get rid of whatever was worrying him so much. Milo was standing by the fabricator as it buzzed, a smokey smell arising from the machine. From somewhere else, in the small expansion they'd recently built, he hears a mug being filled by the coffee maker, followed by a quiet curse as Emily burns her tongue. Avery was humming to himself from near her, and murmurs a warning about the drink that Emily scoffs at.

Emily had deactivated the AI built into the habitat, allowing them a mostly silent getaway. It wasn't likely they'd go unnoticed for any longer than ten minutes, so it was mostly just to allow them a lead without immediately being followed. Milo had scrounged up enough materials to let them construct a hatch into the second room, which would hopefully give them just a bit more time.

They could wait for a better chance, or they could take the best one they've had so far.

Ryley takes a breath, feeling suddenly anxious. He glances back over at Milo, who only catches his gaze for a moment before looking away and turning to walk to the the hallway leading to the second room. Jochi doesn't look up from his PDA, and Danby only spares a quick glance at him. Ryley idles, going over everything in his head again. Thinking over all the sounds he could hear.

 _What are you waiting for?_ He thinks, before continuing after the others. He can feel Danby's gaze on him, lingering longer than it did on Milo, and ignores how guilty it makes him feel. What if something actually happened to them? What if Ryley returned with less than the three he set out with? What would he tell them?

"It'll be fine," A voice whispers from near him, and Ryley jumps at the sound. Avery blinks, a look of amusement on his face. "How do so many people sneak up on you?"

Ryley light shoves him and scoffs. Avery lets out a mock gasp, an overly exaggerated look of betrayal on his face. Ryley opens his mouth to say something in reply, but before he gets a chance to make a noise Emily loudly clears her throat from the other side of the room. Ryley glances over to see her staring at them with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Are you two done?" She murmurs, "Because if you prefer, we can just build another room on its own-"

"Emily!" Milo jabs her with an elbow, although he seemed to be struggling to hide a smile. Avery rolls his eyes, but Ryley's face flushes and he tries quickly to find a reply.

"Jealous that you aren't the one with the super hearing?" Avery remarks as he walks toward the two, his tone giving away nothing. Emily lets out a quiet laugh.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to have any alone time with anyone on this base with you two around?"

"How many people exactly are you trying to have so much alone time with?"

"What can I say? I'm irresistible."

"You both are the worse," Ryley says, finally walking up to join them, his face still warm enough that he can notice it, and hopes it wasn't obvious to the others. "We better hurry before anyone else notices we're not with them." Emily nods, almost immediately looking more serious. Without another word, the group turns to the hatch. Briefly, he considers simply asking to leave to look for Bart; surely Danby wouldn't suggest they just ignore him?

As much as he hates the guilty feeling in his stomach, as much he fears how angry some of them would be at him, as much as lying to his friends saddens him - what other choice does he have? He can't go any longer without doing something. He _needs_ to know that Bart was okay. He can't convince himself to trust Marguerit yet, not after his interactions with her so far. He takes a steadying breath.

The water outside is worse than freezing could even describe, and Ryley almost instantly regrets the decision to leave at all. He'd much prefer to remain in his bed right now. He instantly goes towards the surface, the water too dark to see through this far down. Not that he has any real idea as to which direction he should be going in, anyways.

The air above somehow feels even colder than the water, and Ryley flinches as a strong gust of wind hits his face.

Emily emerges from the water beside him, and immediately snaps out a string of curses.

"..Are you okay?" Milo asks, sounding as if he was trying to stop himself from laughing.

"It's _cold!"_ Emily says back. "I hate this place!"

"Marguerit lived here for almost ten years, you know," Milo continues.

"And I feel terrible for her! This sucks!"

Ryley tries listening, hoping that perhaps he'd hear Bart already returning, that he had nothing to worry about. But he hears no sign of any person other than the four of them. Even the fish seemed eerily silent that morning, and he could hardly hear anything swimming at all. He mostly just heard waves splashing against each other and ice.

"Do you think we could find Marguerit's base?" Avery asks. "Maybe we could go back to that tunnel and go in the same direction they walked off in."

Emily scoffs. "And get near those ice leviathans again? They nearly killed us last time - I'm fairly sure that Danby cracked a rib because of those things. We should stay away."

"Danby seems fine to me." Milo cuts in, "And who knows where all the leviathans are at? Any section of land could be unsafe for all we know. The tunnels are the best place to look."

Avery looks at Ryley. "What do you think?" He asks, and Ryley hesitates for a moment.

Emily had a point. Ryley had nearly died there three times - he wasn't excited at the idea of going back yet again. They couldn't count on the Vesper survivors saving them again, and they had no chance at surviving an attack from one of them. Ryley doesn't want to take the risk whatsoever. However, it did seem like their best chance at locating where Bart could be at. Since it was so early, they might still be at their base. And if they weren't, one of the two would return eventually.

 _If they're both still alive,_ the back of his head unhelpfully supplies. Marguerit and Bart had spent a decade on this planet, they could survive a few days without dying. Ryley's near certain that one of them has to still be alive somewhere. He has to hope, at least.

"We'll go back to the tunnel." He says finally. Neither Avery no Milo seemed very happy about Ryley agreeing with them, and he assumes they shared Emily's fears, even if they thought it was the best way to track the two Degasi survivors down.

The four continue swimming towards land, Ryley trying his best to remember the way back to the empty sheet of ice, devoid of anything but snow, ice, and the leviathan that attacked them last time he was here, with Danby and Ozzy. It wasn't exactly easy to track down some place that he'd only been to three times and that didn't have any landmarks. Thankfully, the mountains looming in the distance finally start to feel closer, and broken pieces of ice start becoming just visible as the sun continues to rise.

Stepping out of the water, Ryley feels exhausted. He suddenly becomes aware of how little he'd been sleeping, of how sick he'd been feeling lately, how much his lungs seemed to ache right now. Every time he manages to drag one leg forward, it feels incredibly difficult. His muscles ache.

"You good?" Avery asks, stopping next to him. Ryley can hear him wheezing. For a moment, he feels dizzy. It felt like everything was happening all over again - Bart was missing, one of them was hurt, they were sick and they couldn't breath and they were dying. They're dying again. They barely survived this the first time, how could they possibly go through it all again? Ryley can't go through all of this again. "Ryley?" Avery's voice cuts through his thoughts, and Ryley realizes just how tired the three of them looked. Milo's eyes kept closing, and he struggled to keep them open. Emily could hardly push herself though the snow that piled up to her knees.

Ryley feels himself shaking, and he has no idea if it's because of the cold or not. He figures it's at least an excuse if he was asked about it.

"'m okay." He replies, carefully making sure his voice stays calm. He can tell without even looking at Avery that the other didn't believe him.

Ryley forces himself to continue through the snow, his fingers already numb. He couldn't give up now. He had to find Bart.

"D' ya think they've noticed us yet?" Emily calls back to them, after a few minutes of silence.

Ryley pauses for a moment, trying to block out the crunching snow and wind in his ears. He only just barely make out noise from the habitat. He can hear footsteps, the slight buzz that the light-bulbs gave off. Someone yawns and another sneezes. Above it all, he can hear voices, anxious and furious all at once.

"Can't anyone in this habitat follow an order anymore?" Roman hisses, mostly to himself, but Ryley thinks it was loud enough for the others to here.

Someone close to Roman snorts, "Emily was always like that, even on the ship! You can't _order_ us around anymore, anyways." Ryley finally Ozzy's voice.

"I can if it stops them from killing themselves!"

"Stop arguing! This isn't helping!" Danby cuts in, his voice shaking.

Ryley stops paying attention to the conversation, shaking his head to try to clear the sounds. "Yeah, they noticed." He answers at last.

Milo and Emily share a look, but neither say anything. Ryley continues, "They're.. not very happy."

"Yeah, Roman's _definitely_ gonna kill us," Milo replies, his voice slightly raised against the wind.

"I'm sure he'll understand." Avery calls up to him, his voice soft despite yelling the words. Ryley thinks he likes Avery's voice more than anyone else's. For a few moments, Ryley feels overwhelmed with emotion he's still not quite sure he wants to look very closely at, and struggles to push it away.

_Focus on finding Bart!_

He tries reaching out, listening for any signs of another person he possibly could. The sounds of the people around him fade into the background as he listens to the crunching of snow beyond a mountain, two sets of four paws stomping around. Their stomachs growl, and one of them chirps up at the other. Definitely not Bart.

He tries listening further, his eyes closing in concentration. Waves splash against ice, and something jumps up out of the water. Below the waves, something big growls in a way that sounds disappointment to Ryley, before swimming away again. Not there, either.

Ryley's ears ache, and his head feels like it was splitting in two from a headache he hadn't noticed until just a moment before. Ryley winces, but he ignores it and wonders just how far he could hear if he tried. He had never tried before. He does now.

Deeper below the water, he hears smaller fish swimming around. Something chirps, and sounds familiar to the Peepers from the crater. He hears creepvines swirling in the water, some of the fish stopping to nip at the leaves before hurrying away just as fast. _All_ the fish seemed to be hurrying away. Something larger was swimming past; three of whatever it was. Two seemed to be hurrying, an almost frantic movement in one and a quick steady pace from the other. The third followed slower, their heartbeat a nervous flutter.

They start to turn for the surface; their lungs burn every so slightly, but they were still breathing. Finally, it clicks that they were humans. Ryley tries zeroing in on them, trying to figure out exactly who they were.

He trips and stumbles, his focus immediately snapping to right in front of him. He only just manages to not fall, and his ears are slower in re-adjusting, every small noise seeming hundreds of times more present than normal. His headache gets worse. Ryley hisses under his breath, and the quiet noise sounds like explosions in his ears, ringing around as Ryley recoils.

Ryley can feel a gaze on him, and he can hear Milo and Emily turning their heads to glance at him. Their heartbeats pick up a bit, and Milo's fingers twitch. Their bones creak, their eyes are freezing dry and they keep blinking snow away, their blood flows quickly in an attempt to get warm. He can hear their joints and muscles as they walk, he can hear the cold air warming in their lungs. Ryley wants to claw his ears off just to _stop it all._

They don't say anything. The three of them are silent, but Ryley can hear that they are worried, that they have questions, but they remain quiet. He can hear their worries, and they can see his hurt. They walk in silence until Ryley can manage to block out just enough to stop himself from feeling like he might die at any moment.

"Anything?" Avery murmurs, the wind surely drowning out his words to Emily and Milo, but to Ryley it sounds like the words were said right next to his ear, echoing in his skull. Ryley glances up at him and shrugs, his heart pounding. _Was_ it Bart? There were three of them - Marguerit hadn't seemed to be getting along at all with the Vesper group. Ryley found it unlikely she would be traveling with one of them. Ryley considers trying to listen in on them again and hope one or more spoke at some point, but reconsiders when a sharp pain shoots through his skull. Hardly able to think at all until the pain starts to fade, Ryley reminds himself to _never_ do that again. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for an entire day right now.

 _You have to find Bart._ He repeats the words to himself, over and over. He _can't_ sleep. He has to find Bart.

_You have much more than that to do._

Ryley pauses. That was not his voice, and it was not Avery's or Milo's or Emily's.

_You have much to experience._

_Why do I have to do all this?_ Ryley finally recognizes the voice.

_You have to survive. You have no other choice. You must survive._

_I don't know if I can._

_You will survive. You will see._

The voice doesn't say anymore. Ryley's headache returns sharply. He's hardly aware of the fact that his feet are moving. Hadn't he stopped? When did he start walking again? He's tired. He blinks rapidly, hoping to try to wake himself up more, but his eyes burn and his eyelids stick and he struggles to keep moving. He continues to manage to. Avery is still walking beside him, Milo and Emily still in sight; he had not fallen behind. He drags himself forward.

He has no other choice.

Suddenly the other three stop, and Ryley pauses beside them. He sees Milo's mouth move, and Ryley hears... noises, but he can't seem to process the words. Now that he wasn't moving, Ryley feels ready to collapse. Surely just listening out further than normal wouldn't make him feel like this? What was wrong with him? Ryley glances up when he realizes Avery was staring at him, but neither say anything to each other. Ryley shakes his head, and tries to focus on what was in front of him.

"..know if they were getting close," Milo was saying, an edge to his voice.

Emily scoffs. "Does he seem to be able to tell to you? He looks half-dead to me." It takes Ryley a moment to realize that they were referring to _him,_ and he glances back up at Avery in a panic. They couldn't doubt themselves now. They weren't even _near_ Bart. He still had no idea where he was. Avery takes a step forward.

"They're going to be looking for us by now," He starts, "If we slow down too much they'll catch up. We either take the path we _agreed on_ , or we turn back."

"We're never going to find Bart at this rate," Milo mutters, crossing his arms, "We don't have any idea where he went and half of us never want to leave while the other half are always too exhausted to do anything." Ryley winces as Milo shoots a look at him.

"You should be glad we're only tired right now," Avery replies, his voice icy in a way Ryley doesn't think he's ever heard, "Most of us nearly died last time we got sick."

Milo glares up at him, "Maybe we should be looking for a way to cure this version of it then instead of looking for someone who left us on purpose. This isn't the first time Bart got bored of us and left."

There's only a heartbeat of silence before Avery draws in breath in opens his mouth, "How-"

Emily takes a step in between the two of them, "This isn't helping! Standing around and arguing with one another isn't going to solve anything for anyone." She turns to Milo, "We're looking for Bart. You agreed to do that back at the habitat." Milo looks slightly taken aback, but after a moment's hesitation he nods and looks away. Emily sighs and looks over to Avery. "But Ryley clearly can't keep leaving the habitat when he's hardly eating or sleeping. He's going to end up killing himself. He needs to go back to the habitat."

Ryley stares at her. "But we haven't found him yet!" He blurts out, taking a shaky step forward. "I can't go back until I find him!"

Avery shares a sympathetic look with Ryley. Emily doesn't seem as bothered. "We'll still be looking for him, but you clearly can't handle this journey anymore."

"We can't send him back alone," Avery argues, his voice no longer containing the tone it had when he was talking with Milo. He simply seemed concerned and torn now.

"One of us can go back with him."

Avery doesn't reply. Ryley finds himself wishing he had whatever abilities Avery had; he wishes he knew what he was feeling and what he was thinking. Would he rather turn back with him or go on looking for Bart. Regardless of his choice, Ryley almost felt like he needed to know his thought process. An urge to know how strongly Avery felt about both of them.

He wonders which one he'd choose, if he were in Avery's place.

Ryley feels like his thoughts were spiraling, and he forces himself to try to think of anything else than the uncertainty of whether he was first choice or not. He suddenly does not want to know how well he ranked in the minds of others.

But Emily glances back at Milo before Avery answers again. "Avery and I will keep looking. We'll be able to find him." Milo looks back at her, looking almost as if he was going to argue, but with a grunt he walks over to Ryley.

 _I can't go back yet!_ And yet, Ryley's mouth feels like it was clamped close, and Milo nods to Avery and Emily, "Be careful," he says, their arguments forgotten as he stares with a scared glint in his eyes at the two of them. Emily and Avery looked as tired as Ryley felt. Why did he bring them all out here? He should have just left alone, like he'd planned.

 _I have to keep looking,_ he thinks, and Emily seems to force a smile, her gaze only flickering briefly over to Ryley, "Of course." Both her and Milo look like they wanted to say something else, something more, but neither open their mouths again.

Ryley tries to force himself to reach out again in last effort to locate Bart or Marguerit, but the headache seems to spread to every single one of his nerves when he tries and bitterness rises in his chest. Why was he so sick and tired all the time anymore?

He _hated_ this.

Milo nudges against Ryley's shoulder, and Ryley snaps his attention back enough to realize that Emily and Avery had already turned away. _Wait!_ He feels panicked and abandoned and alone. _I have to find him!_ "Come on, we'll freeze if we stand around for much longer." Milo says, but Ryley hardly pays any attention, his chest feeling tight.

_You will see him again. He is too important._

Ryley does not want either of them to be important. He just wants to live without the weight of responsibility crushing his shoulders. Was being important the only thing that meant they deserved to live? To do something important?

Ryley feels dizzy.

"Ryley!" Milo calls, and Ryley looks over his shoulder. With a sigh, Ryley reluctantly follows, with even less energy than he had before. He feels as if he's done nothing more than waste time. As they trudge through the snow, clouds start to cover the sky, and fresh flakes begin to fall. Thunder crackles in the distance, the sound ringing in his ears for much longer than it usually would.

If Ryley slows down, Milo does as well, never more than a few footsteps ahead. Yet Milo never turns to look at him, and he doesn't say anything either. Earlier that same morning, everything had felt perfectly fine; it seems like everything had fallen apart now.

With a great deal of effort, Ryley manages to speak: "Sorry."

Milo still doesn't look at him. "What for?"

Ryley shrugs. "You seem upset."

Milo laughs, for only a moment, but there isn't any humor in it. "Well, we're all apparently sick with the damn disease from the crater again, and the Emperors can't cure it. Of course I'm upset. I'm sure this one is just as deadly as the last one."

Ryley had tried not to think of how much exactly they were the same. He wasn't a doctor; he briefly considers asking Danby about it, but pushes the idea away. It was an alien bacteria, how would Danby know how it worked?

Then the words sink in more. "..It'll be fine." Ryley says, forcing himself to believe the words.

 _"How?"_ Milo asks, his voice rising a bit, sounding almost hysteric, _"How_ can this all be fine? We're all going to die, and for _what? Why_ did we come here?"

"We had to." Ryley answers. He wishes he knew himself what he was doing.

Milo scoffs, "We were fine on the crater. We should never have left it. And when we all start dying off because we have nothing to cure ourselves, I hope you'll find whatever the hell convinced you to drag us all out here. I hope you'll be happy _then._ "

Ryley stares at Milo.

Neither say anything else. Ryley can hear Milo's heart beating fast, his jaw set. Ryley feels sick. He had thought Milo was avoiding him - and then he had thought he'd imagined it when they set out this morning. Now he reconsiders the sentiments he'd felt about him.

Milo was acting like he _hated_ him.

Ryley feels sick.

They walk side by side in silence.

If Ryley had told him to return alone, that he was going to still look for Bart, would he even stop him? Would he say anything to Ryley at all? Surely not. Surely he'd be worried for him. Milo was his friend.

But he can't stop himself from wondering if Milo even thought that anymore. How many of the others felt the same as Milo? Did they all blame him for this? Was Bart avoiding him on purpose? Were Avery and Emily sending him away because they didn't like him anymore? Was that why Danby hardly talked to him anymore?

_You were right to come here._

Ryley is starting to hate that voice. Why had he ever listened to it? All because of a dream he had? A dream didn't mean anything! Everyone has dreams!

_You will see that you were right._

_But at what cost?_ He asks, unsure if he was tired or sad or angry. _Because a life is not worth it._

_In comparison to everything else that lives here? This entire planet? Why does yours matter more?_

_Leave me alone._

_You humans all seem to be tired of me. I am simply trying to survive._

Ryley keeps his gaze firmly on the snow in front of him. The wind picks up, the falling flakes hurting his eyes as they flew into them.

"Today just gets better and better, doesn't it?" Milo mutters, and Ryley has no idea if he was intending for him to hear.

"A storm is the least of our problems." Ryley replies anyways, his words more bitter than he'd meant them to.

Milo hums, but doesn't argue. They walk only a few more meters before Milo abruptly stops. "Just one break.." He grumbles under his breath, and Ryley peers past him.

He recognizes Robin first, Sam walking beside her, and Jeffreys a pace behind them. Were they the three he'd heard before? How did they catch up so fast? Ryley takes a few steps towards them.

"Weird that we keep running into each other, isn't it?" Milo calls once they're closer.

Jeffreys looked ever so slightly uncomfortable, but when he replies his voice is calm, "It's a small planet. It would only be strange if we never saw each other."

Milo grunts. "I suppose so."

Ryley glances over at Sam, and her eyes seem tired. More worries threaten to consume Ryley's thoughts, and he forces his gaze away. Robin seemed the most energetic of the three, but there was still an air of sadness around her that gave Ryley pause. Their gazes meet for a second, and the back of his head buzzes. Robin blinks, her expression changing ever so slightly, but she looks away again before Ryley can be sure he didn't imagine it.

_She can hear you too, can't she?_

_Perhaps you are smarter than I gave you credit for._

_Means a lot._ Ryley tries to ignore the flicker of irritation. Hope quickly wipes the annoyance away from him. If Robin could hear them too, then they had to be real. Then he feels a twinge of guilt. _Can Bart still hear you?_

_If I wanted him to, yes. But he's already fulfilled the role I needed him to. There is no need to ask for more. Three of you are good enough._

Robin was saying something to Milo, but Ryley's head was buzzing too much for him to tell the words apart. He tried to pretend like he was paying attention.

_Three of us?_

_You will understand in time._

_Why not just tell me now?_

There was a moment of silence, as if the voice was either hesitating or carefully choosing their words. _You would not understand,_ they finally say to him.

The buzzing goes away all at once. Ryley winces as sound engulfs him again.

"Our habitat is small enough as it is," Milo was saying, "And it's not my place to decide either way."

"That's fair," Robin responds, her voice carefully polite, but Ryley can tell she was struggling to remain patient. "But we can expand a habitat. We have plenty of materials; we've been here for a while already."

Jeffrey takes a step forward, "We can't force them to let us move in, Robin." His voice is still carefully neutral, but Ryley can hear his heart pounding. He was scared. "We tried. They don't want us, clearly."

Milo shifts from one foot to the other, "Look, I don't want anything to happen to you, it's just.." He trails off, and looks at Ryley nervously, as if he was expecting him to back him up.

But Ryley wanted a chance to ask Robin about the voice. He wanted to get Sam and Jeffrey's away from whatever seemed to be freaking them out so much. And, in the back of his head, a small part of him simply wants to disagree with Milo right now. _As if he cares about my opinion anyways! He just wants out of this situation!  
_

"I can't see why the others would mind. We'd be able to explore further with more people and go home sooner." Milo sighs, a defeated expression on his face, and Ryley continues, "And we can't just leave them here when they're asking us for help."

Robin's face brightens a bit, and she looks expectantly back at Milo. "..Alright. We were heading back anyways." He reluctantly replies.

"Thank you." Robin replies, looking almost as if a huge weight had been taken off her shoulders.

Sam's face brightens a bit, only just enough for Ryley to notice the change. She shares a look with her sister. Ryley's gaze flickers over to Jeffrey's who hadn't reacted to the news, his expression completely neutral. Yet Ryley can still hear his heartbeat, fluttering like a trapped bird. His eyes suddenly move and lock onto Ryley's. The two stare at each other for hardly a fraction of a second before Jeffrey quickly looks away again.

Milo nudges Ryley's shoulder as he walks by him, much harsher than was necessary, and Ryley glares at him as he passes - neither say anything to each other.

As they walk, Jeffrey's keeps his pace slower than the others, and Sam manages to strike up a conversation with Milo that seems to ease the tension in the air. Robin walks almost side-by-side with Ryley, though she says nothing to him.

_Does she know?_

_If you found out, do you really think she wouldn't? I've been communicating with her longer than you._

_Well, I didn't know that._

_Now you do. Be quiet.  
_

* * *

The storm turns into a blizzard by the time they finally make it back to the habitat. To Ryley's surprise, none of the others were missing from the habitat; they had all done nothing more than anxiously wait and hope for the best. As Ryley steps through the hatch, he carefully avoids their gazes, but he can feel their eyes on him. There was quiet murmuring around him, and he's not entirely sure who all is talking. He can't make out any particular words until Milo walks in behind him.

"Hey." Milo murmurs. "We uh.. brought company." He gestures to Sam and Robin as they followed through the hatch as he was talking. As his arm drops, the hatch closes behind Jeffrey.

Jochi was leaning heavily against a wall, looking so lost in thought that he wasn't even looking towards them. Roman was standing near him, his gaze snapping between the group, his knuckles pale as if he'd been gripping onto something recently. Ozzy and Danby were sitting together on the floor; Ozzy seemed the most relieved of the four, their shoulders sagging and their eyes brightening as soon as they noticed Ryley. Beside them, Danby was sitting ridged and staring past Ryley, his heart rocketing.

"Where are the other two?" Roman asks after a brief silence, his voice low.

Milo shares a glance with Ryley. "Uh.."

"They're fine." Ryley answers for him.

Roman scoffs. "That doesn't answer the question."

"They're looking for Bart." Ryley continues, unable to convince himself to come up with a lie. It still wouldn't tell him exactly where they went, and he wasn't lying; surely that was good for everyone?

Roman stares at him for a moment, but if he planned on saying anything else, he doesn't get a chance to before Robin steps forward past Ryley.

"Hey," Robin starts, and Ryley slowly starts to zone the conversation out as he realizes she was just repeating herself to Roman, and looks around the room. Milo had already scurried off, Jochi hurriedly saying something to him, a stern expression on his face. Sam was cautiously looking around the habitat, as if she were trying to memorize where everything was. Ozzy seemed invested in Robin and Roman's conversation, the only other one that was paying any attention. Ryley peers around again quickly, and realizes that the room seemed less crowded. Danby and Jeffrey weren't there.

They couldn't have left the habitat, Ryley rationalizes, and looks over to the entrance to the only other room. He couldn't see them, but he hesitantly lets himself try to reach out.

"You haven't told them?"

 _"No!_ Do you think they'd let you stay here if I did?"

Thankfully, the distance was short enough that his headache doesn't return. He frowns as the words sink in around his relief that he hadn't felt any pain.

"You _better_ keep to that promise," Jeffrey's was saying in a voice that was low enough to be a whisper. "I can do it ag-"

 _"Stop talking!"_ Danby interrupts, his voice equally quiet, and Ryley freezes at the terror in his voice. "Ryley could hear us!"

"What? How?"

"Just believe me!" Danby pleads. "He doesn't let things go. If he so much as thinks that something is wrong-"

"I get it." Jeffrey's snaps. "Be vague."

"Oh, because if he overhears _'be vague',_ he won't be suspicious at all! Just don't talk about it!"

There's a pause, and Ryley eyes the room again. Roman, Ozzy, and Robin were standing closer together now, Milo and Jochi finally paying more attention. Sam adds something in, and Robin nods gratefully to her. None of them pay any attention to Ryley's silence, and none seem to notice that Danby and Jeffrey had disappeared.

"Just stop staring at me. That's just about the most suspicious thing you could be doing right now." Jeffrey's finally murmurs back, his voice losing the anger it had before. "I won't say anything if you don't. Simple as that."

Danby doesn't reply, but a few heartbeats later Ryley sees him walk through the hallway. Ryley quickly looks away, hoping that Danby didn't notice his head snap away. Despite how desperate Danby had sounded to make sure Ryley didn't overhear, the conversation unsettled him. When he glances towards Jeffrey when he hears him walk in, his skins crawls. Jeffrey stares at the back of Danby's head for a moment before looking over at Ozzy with an unreadable expression.

They were hiding something. Ryley feels it in his gut. He'd ask Danby about it later alone. Even if he didn't get an answer, Ryley could not possibly stand by while his stomach twists as he recounts Jeffrey's tone. He sounded like he'd been _threatening_ Danby. The way he watches Ozzy now makes Ryley feel even more anxious.

Ryley can't manage to listen to Robin, feeling too sick to pay much attention. He keeps glancing at Danby and Jeffrey, but neither ever look back. He's not sure if he feels relieved or not when he notices they didn't seem to be paying much attention to the conversation either. Both of them seemed to be almost equally nervous, but Ryley can't feel any remorse for Jeffrey.

Ryley shakes his head, and for once his thoughts feel strangely calm and focused. He knew exactly what he had to do. He glances back over to Danby again, and this time he finally glances back. There's an anxious glint in his eyes, and Ryley forces himself to look away and appear nonchalant. Even so, he hears Danby's heart pick up again, and his gaze lingers on him.

 _He knows,_ he can almost hear Danby think. _I know,_ he says to himself.

"You know nothing." Jeffrey whispers, and Ryley snaps his head up to look at him. Jeffrey was still gazing at the group, giving away no sign that he'd said anything at all. Ryley's heart seems to beat harder in his chest, and he almost feels that even Jeffrey would be able to hear it. If he really hadn't imagined it, if Jeffrey really had spoken to him, he gave no indication to speak again.

Ryley feels bitterness and guilt and sadness grow in his chest. The rest of the survivors could turn against him for all he cared.

He knows. _He knows._

He will _not_ let anything happen to Danby or Ozzy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOME SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN YA'LL


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> moral ambiguity and emotional baggage!! it's a christmas miracle!!!!
> 
> tw for panic attacks and also like lots of mentions of death. and kinda graphic description of a dead body. this chapter gets dark ya'll big oof
> 
> EDIT: uhhh forget the christmas miracle part its a 2021 miracle!! happy new year!!!!  
> EDIT 2: TIME IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT NOBODY LOOK AT ME

The ocean seemed strangely quiet. Through the glass of the SeaTruck, fish lazily swim around, as if they had nothing to worry about. Other than being eaten, what _did_ they have to worry about?

Bart eyes a peeper - or at least something that looks a lot like one - and wishes he could be as carefree.

Marguerit was in one of the other attachments, searching through the storage containers. Bart hadn't bothered to ask her what exactly she was doing. Instead, he'd be staring out the windows and eyeing his father for any indication that he'd say even a single word to him.

Paul had been almost as silent as the waters around them. He'd spoken a few words to Marguerit, but nothing directly to Bart.

It felt so startlingly different from how they were on the crater that Bart isn't sure how to bring it up. He's not sure how to bring up most of his grievances with the other two.

Mostly with Paul. He hadn't realized just how much bitterness he'd started to pile up until he had seen him again. Of course Bart's glad he's okay; he's never hated his father, especially not enough to prefer him dead.

But he cannot imagine himself forgiving him anytime soon, if at all.

So much of his life could be different if the Degasi had simply not strayed from its path. Bart might be leading Torgal Corp. by now. The thought makes him uncomfortable. He's happy with his life here. But he knows that others aren't.

He knows that Avery still grieved harshly for the Sunbeam crew that didn't make it; he still had nightmares about the one who had almost made it alive to the island. He knows that Roman still got lost in thought over the Aurora members he couldn't save. He knew he blamed himself more than any of the others, because he knew they were coming to this planet. They all had lost so much, and they all left behind everything, and it all could have been avoided if the Degasi had done something different.

If _Paul_ had done something different.

Maybe it wasn't fair to blame him; Bart can't imagine him making the same decisions if he'd had any idea of the danger. But he _does_ blame him.

He glances over to Paul once again; he's either too focused on piloting the SeaTruck to notice, or he's purposefully avoiding Bart's gaze. Bart knows he should say something, but how in the stars is he supposed to fix a _decade_ of anger and resentment?

Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe Ryley would figure out what they're here for, and then they'd go home to the crater, and Paul and Marguerit and go back to the Mongolian States. Maybe Bart would have this one last time, and then never speak to either of them again. Maybe he'd die on this planet never knowing what had happened to either of them.

The thought makes his heart swell with grief.

But what else would happen? He wouldn't leave the planet, and Paul and Marguerit wanted nothing more than to never look at it again.

His gaze flickers to the windows, and then back to Paul.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" Bart jumps as his father finally speaks, then he blinks as he struggles for an answer.

"Just.. thinking." He answers. It wasn't really a lie, now was it?

"Anything important enough to warrant glaring at me for five minutes?"

"I wasn't glaring," Bart defends himself, "It- It doesn't matter."

There's a moment of silence. "Knowing you," Paul begins, his voice quiet, "It probably does. It always matters to you, at least."

Bart carefully considers the words. "You said we'd talk later." He decides to reply, unwilling to admit his thoughts yet.

"Sure."

They fall into silence again, and Bart struggles to think of words for his emotions that wouldn't further push his father and Marguerit away.

* * *

They eventually come to a cave entrance, a stand that appears to have been built by the Precursors the only sign that anything worthwhile would be inside. The cave was hidden deep inside a biome full of twisting vines and plants. Bart was thoroughly surprised to see Paul navigate through it all without any struggle; then he reasons that he's had plenty of time to practice. It makes Bart feel guilty, and he's not sure why.

"Better swim the rest of the way," Marguerit calls from the back of the SeaTruck. Bart only glances back at his father once before he follows her out.

Upon swimming closer, Bart realizes that the stand he'd seen before had several pieces chipped off, and a large flat part was hanging loosely at one side. It must have been one of the locks that required the tablets to open. Either way, the force-field was down now, and Bart is thankful that it hadn't been put back up since the lock was destroyed.

They steadily progress through the tunnel, a few lights that also appeared to be designed by the Precursor placed on the path, until another doorway that looks similar to the ones on the crater comes into view. Bart makes sure to swim through it close to the bottom of the force-field this time, landing on his feet as the water is replaced with air and, most noticeably, gravity.

Bart blinks as he gazes around. Only a vague trail lead forward past jagged rocks. Most the Precursor buildings from the crater were heavily built into, hardly anything natural about them if you could even find a way to describe a single thing as 'natural'. This felt more like a cave than something created by the alien race.

"I've only visited this place once or twice," Marguerit says as they walk carefully along the path - or at least Bart walks carefully, Marguerit and Paul seemingly less concerned about the sharp stones lining the path - "Never found anything in it, but you still haven't explained what exactly you're lookin' for."

Bart doesn't reply immediately. Would they think he was making a terrible decision by coming here without even knowing what he was doing? "I'll know it when I see it," He finally murmurs before the silence stretched too much.

He hears Paul snort behind him, and Marguerit remains silent. Bart can't exactly blame them for being less than confident with him.

Finally, they come to the top of the tunnel, and it leads to a room that looks much more like the Precursor tech he was used to. Platforms lead up towards the top of the cave, but Bart can't see anything along the walls. Then he pauses abruptly, and Paul mutters something under his breath after almost walking into him.

Something green was shattered into hundreds if not thousands of pieces along the ground, the largest pieces near the center of the room. A few where still standing on a platform, but most had flung around the room. A light green glow faintly illuminated the largest pieces, the rest had faded into almost gray colorations.

The three of them simply stare at the mess for a moment.

"Well," Marguerit says, "That's... new."

"It hasn't always been like this?" Bart asks, tearing his gaze away to stare up at her.

Paul steps past them, "The statue must have collapsed."

Bart looks around at the pieces on the floor. They looked like the same material as the ion cubes back on the crater. He'd never seen any statues made out of it. Why would they only build one here?

"When was the last time you were here?"

Marguerit and Paul share a glance, and Marguerit shrugs. "Long time ago. Stopped keeping track of the days after a month or two."

There was something in her tone that made Bart sure they were keeping something from him, but he doesn't question it. He figures it must have collapsed recently anyways, for some of the pieces to still retain whatever power ran through them. He's certain they didn't have anything to do with it.

But he also doubts that it just _fell._

He crouches down and hesitantly picks up one of the smaller broken pieces. "The Precursors were here thousands of years ago, and practically everything they built is still holding good as new, but this just falls apart and shatters one day?"

Paul looks over at him. "How do you know how long they were here?"

"The Emperor," Bart replies without thinking.

Paul stares at him, his eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

For a moment, Bart can't figure out his father's confusion. "Oh," He says aloud, "You never.." He looks hopefully over at Marguerit, but she quickly walks away instead of doing anything to help explain the leviathans. His father still wasn't aware of anything that Bart's done over the past decade. "..It's a long story."

Paul stares at him for a moment longer before shrugging and making a vague gesture with his hands, and walking away. Bart starts trying to decide what parts of the story he should leave out when he told it later. Probably nothing about the lava lakes or Sea Dragons.

He stares down at the piece in his hand. Marguerit and his father didn't seem concerned, but as far as Bart could tell, neither had any idea what happened either. He knows that it couldn't possibly have been any of the Aurora or Sunbeam survivors - the only time any of them would have had to time to find this place was when Ryley ran off alone. And if Ryley had found this place, he would have said something; he hadn't come anywhere near here either way. He thinks for another few moments in silence.

He looks back up to Marguerit. "Did any of the Vesper crew know about this place?"

Marguerit shrugs, "I dunno. I don't talk to any of them."

"Of course," Bart says under his breath. Raising his voice, he continues, "One of them must know something."

"It could have just.. collapsed, couldn't it?" Paul asks, a doubtful hint to his voice. Normally, Bart thinks he would have just explained his reasoning - none of the other Precursor tech fell apart without _something_ intervening - but with everything else he had piling up against Paul, his lack of trust made Bart too annoyed to bother.

"No." He simply says instead. Paul blinks at him, but doesn't say anything else. Bart isn't sure if he prefers the silence or not. Bart decides to pocket the broken piece of whatever was standing here before, and gets to his feet. There was nothing else he could learn from this cave. Maybe if he'd been here a few weeks sooner he'd have found something useful. The thought makes him even more furious with Paul, even though a small part of his head tries to tell him that it wasn't remotely his father's fault that Bart had been too slow.

As they head back down the path, Marguerit and his father keep whispering to each other from in front of him, and Bart's too angry and spaced out from thinking over the cave to pay any attention to them. Something about the cave feels important to Bart. He's only ever seen one other broken down building from the Precursors, and that was because a Sea Dragon had headbutted it at full speed. What could have possibly destroyed this? He's certain that it hadn't just broken; something must have caused it.

He gets so lost in thought that he hardly notices that he's back in the SeaTruck. Should he go back to tell Ryley and Avery? Maybe he should track down Robin's habitat and ask the four there if they knew anything. He doubts Maxim would know; Sam had told him that he'd confined himself to the habitat ever since they built it. The description sounded too eerily familiar for Bart to be comfortable with talking about him anymore past that, and he doesn't want to speak to him any more now than he did then. But he doesn't have much other choice.

"Bart."

He startles at the sound of his name, and glances up to see his father sitting on one of the built in benches. Bart briefly glances to the head of the SeaTruck - that Marguerit was now piloting. Bart thinks he would have preferred that Paul had silently drove again. Pushing the nagging resentment in his heart aside, he turns his head back to his father.

"..You seem worried." His father continues, his voice low enough that it made Bart think he didn't want Marguerit to overhear. He wasn't looking at him anymore either.

Bart isn't sure how to reply. Had he always felt this awkward around Paul? He doesn't think he'd be so concerned if Marguerit had pointed something so simple out; he definitely wouldn't mind if Jochi had said the exact same thing to him. Yet he struggles to communicate anything right now.

Bart shrugs.

From the corner of his eye, he sees Paul's mouth open a bit, but he doesn't say anything. A stretch of silence makes Bart's skin itch. He suddenly finds himself worrying further for Ryley and Avery. Had they returned to the habitat by now? How long had it been? A few hours? Less than that? Surely they'd be okay.

His father sighs. Bart doesn't look back up at him. "Look," Paul hesitantly begins, "Clearly you're upset. I'm guessing it has to do with me."

Bart thinks up of a thousand good reasons why he'd be upset over _'something that has to do with_ ' Paul. He doesn't say any of them aloud.

"After Marguerit and I started drifting away from our habitat, I didn't sleep at all for.. three days?" He goes on, "And after that, I couldn't stay asleep for more than an hour or two without waking up. I had no idea what had happened to you." He pauses for a moment, either to catch his breath or to find more courage to continue speaking, "I was terrified. I'd never wished to redo something in my life more than I had for those weeks. But we couldn't go back. I couldn't do anything but hope you'd escaped and that you'd be able to look after yourself."

Bart remains silent. Paul draws in more air. "I _am_ glad you're okay. I know I haven't shown it, but I am."

There's a beat of silence as Bart ignores thinking about the Precursor or the other survivors in favor of his father's words repeating in his head.

"..Marguerit yelled at you, didn't she?" Bart says as he turns to look at his father.

Paul stammers incoherently for a moment. "It's not like she wrote me a script," He finally gets out, sounding faintly embarrassed. A small smile tugs at Bart's lips against his will, and he quickly looks away to try to hide it.

"Well, I hope that's not your idea of talk, because that doesn't fix.. anything."

Paul scoffs. "Well, of course one conversation isn't going to fix anything. Hell, considering everything that's happened here, I'd be surprised if _any_ amount of conversations fixed anything."

"That might be the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

His father shrugs. "I had to live with Marguerit for what feels like a lifetime at this point. Probably picked it up from her."

Bart blinks. "And that is _definitely_ the nicest thing I've ever heard you say about Marguerit."

"Hush."

Bart doesn't hide his smile this time. After a few moments of silence, he glances back up to Marguerit. If she had heard any of the exchange, she wasn't saying anything about it. Not yet, at least.

"Jochi was onboard the Aurora." Bart says without much thought, looking back at his father. There's a flicker of fear in his gaze that makes Bart quickly continue, "He's alive. He's back at our habitat, with the others."

"Others?"

"A couple of them survived in their lifepods." Bart's mind wanders through the number of pods he'd or the few survivors found; Ryley and Roman had said that at least twenty-five of them must have launched, but they'd never found even half of that. And even more of them never launched. Only two of them even floated, and Ryley's had been the only one still undamaged after only a day. Before they left the crater, it had drifted almost to the dunes, the glass at the top hatch cracked. Bart wonders if had flipped or sunk by now. "..Less than ten."

He remembers Micah and Beatrix. A surge of grief and guilt traps itself in his heart. They should be here with them all.

"Less than ten out of..?"

Bart realizes that his father had no reference of the Aurora; of how large it was, of it's crew. The Degasi hadn't had anywhere near as many people. "157."

Saying the number aloud suddenly makes everything worst. He'd never talked about it before. 150 people died in only an hour or two. More died when the Sunbeam arrived. And then two more as Bart dragged them out to the wreckage.

"Shit." Paul murmurs. He slumps a bit from where he sat, and Bart almost relishes in the sight. He _deserved_ to be upset. "That's..." He trails off.

"Terrible? Fucked up? The worst thing I've ever had to experience?" Bart supplies bitterly. "Jochi nearly died more times than I can bother counting. If I hadn't been near his pod when it landed, he would've died then. He wouldn't have even been the only body I found."

"Holy shit, Bart." Paul's voice is quiet, and Bart glares at him.

"What the hell would I have done if I found _Jochi's body_ in a sunken lifepod? Because he went on that damn ship looking for us?" Bart continues, ignoring him, grief tugging at his heart with just the thought. What if he went back now and found out Jochi was dead? What if Avery and Ryley never made it back? Panic tugs at his chest. He needs to see them again, to know they were okay. He left Paul and Marguerit in the habitat, and they almost died. He hadn't even seen where Avery and Ryley went to. When was the last time he spoke to Ozzy? Everything around him blurs into nothingness. He can only think about them. They have to be okay. They have to be. Bart cannot let more people die because he hadn't been paying enough attention.

His chest feels tight, like he was underwater with a low oxygen tank. He thinks back to Jochi's lifepod. It had been flattened with pressure. The hatches had snapped off before even hitting the water. Both the seats had been flat against the walls, but Jochi's seat-belt had still been on. He would have drowned. He would have been attacked by warpers. He would have been eaten by bonesharks. He would have died from the infection. He would have died from his injuries.

He would have _died_ if Bart had been only a _dozen_ more meters away from him.

Danby would have died if Bart had found him just a few _minutes_ later than he had.

"Bart." Some voice says, but it sounds far away and garbled and Bart can't tell who was speaking. He's almost convinced he'd just imagined it, but he hears it again, just a bit clearer this time. Bart blinks. His vision is blurry. Was he underwater? He felt like he was. He can't see, he can't breath, he can't move - he must be underwater. Was he going to drown? He doesn't _want_ to drown. A jolt of panic settles in his chest. He was going to die. Did he deserve to? If it had meant others would be better off, Bart thinks he'd let himself. If it meant less death and bitterness, he'd let himself.

"Kid! You're okay!"

There's something grabbing onto his arm. For a moment, Bart's convinced that he sees the face of a crabsquid, that he's going to be dragged down by it, and he can't breath he can't _breath-_

His eyes refocus. Everything is still blurry, but he realizes he's not underwater. There's no crabsquids. His chest hurts, and his throat feels like it was closed.

Everything hurts. Why did everything always have to hurt? Why was this happening to him? Didn't he deserve to not hurt?

"You're alright." The voice says again, somehow both soothing and saddening at the same time, "You're fine, kid." The nickname is familiar, dragging up memories of a handful of people who've called him it. Only a fraction of that handful called him it often. It's awfully bittersweet, thinking back now. Bart's heart _aches._

He breathes. What other choice did he have? He'd spent too long stubbornly moving forward to give up now. He breathes.

He realizes he's sitting down. The floors and walls are white, with strips of gray along some of the corners. He must still be in the SeaTruck. Or maybe he's in a habitat? He's not entirely sure. It certainly wasn't moving, whatever it was. He blinks to clear the water in his eyes - tears, he belatedly recognizes, not ocean water - and finally notices the shapes in front of him. He leans away for a moment, wanting nothing more than to curl in on himself and wait for himself to feel okay again.

"..Bart?" He recognizes the voice at last - or one of them, at least. It was easy enough to guess who the other one must be. "Are you okay?" His father sounds almost frantic, his voice on the verge of shaky, only just clear enough to make him appear level-headed.

Bart makes a non-committal noise instead of bothering with the effort to form words.

"He'll be fine," Marguerit answers for him, "About damn gave us both a heart attack, kid." There's a hint of humor in her voice, just enough to lift the weight on Bart's shoulders enough that he doesn't feel he's about to be crushed. Marguerit turns to Paul and says something to him that Bart feels too tired to distinguish, and Paul nods distractedly. She stands up and walks away. Bart almost calls her back, but convinces himself that she must have something important worth doing if she were leaving right now. It doesn't seem like something she'd usually do.

Bart feels tired. His father is murmuring something to him, but Bart only hears his voice and none of the words. He doesn't mind that he's much too tired to pay attention; his father's voice is calming in comparison to his racing thoughts, and that's enough for him.

He slowly drifts off, exhaustion pulling him away from reality.

* * *

Bart offers a piece of fruit to the small snowstalker absentmindedly, only just almost able to forget his worries from three days prior. He'd never managed to visit yet, and he's almost convinced that Marguerit and Paul were purposefully trying to keep him busy so he wouldn't bring it up again.

He doesn't blame them, he supposes. They weren't willing to see the other survivors yet, and as much as Bart finds himself missing the group he's spent practically every moment with for months on end now, he can't bring himself to leave yet.

The snowstalker whines, and Bart scratches it's chin. It lets out happy chirps at the attention, and Bart's heart swells a bit. He still wasn't sure what his name was; every time he tried bringing it up, Marguerit or Paul would either change the conversation, or give him a random name that they clearly made up on the spot. Bart's decided to simply refer to the pet as Em. He doesn't explain the reasoning to Marguerit or his father simply to spite them for doing the same to him.

Bart looks out across the ocean. Clouds stretched across the horizon, and thunder crackled in the distance. Storms usually stopped everything from getting done. Ryley's hearing would bother him too much, and his distress distracted Avery. The static in the air made Danby and Emily extra jumpy, which stopped everyone else in an effort to calm them. Bart hated the thunder, the noise reminding him all too much of a reaper's roar.

"Hey," Bart jumps at Marguerit's voice, and turns his head back to glare at her. "We got another cave for you."

Bart sighs. "You've been saying that, and then we never find anything. Are you sure this one is good?"

Marguerit looks away for a moment and hums, "No idea, but it's a cave and it's got glow-y green things outside, so I'm counting it."

Bart doesn't make any effort to stand up yet, as much as he'd love to. If it were deep enough underwater, he wouldn't be able to hear the thunder, and maybe he'd be able to stop thinking about the other friends he'd accidentally left without a word yet again.

But he hasn't stopped thinking about them yet. "If we went back to the others-" he starts, but he gets interrupted by Marguerit scoffing.

"We've already talked about this. No."

"It's not like you to be scared of some Alterrans." Bart teases, hoping the bait would trick her. But she just stares at him for a second.

"Ha. Nice try. We're leaving in ten." Bart mutters a defeated noise as she walks away again. He watches the clouds in the distance for a few more moments before rising to his feet, Em whining at the loss of pets.

He glances over his shoulders hesitantly before trailing Marguerit, Em running ahead to catch up with her, only sinking ever so slightly into the snow.

Bart tries to push his worries aside; Marguerit and his father were still alive, and he couldn't bare to leave them both yet. The others could certainly go a few more days without him, couldn't they?

What was the _worst_ that could happen?

* * *

This cave was much further underwater than the last, the sun not managing to reach down at all. The darkness always made him feel uneasy; and he had no real idea what lived around him, making him feel even more on edge. He glances nervously at Marguerit, but she doesn't appear bothered at all, nor does she notice him staring. He supposes they probably knew this area as well as he knew the crater by now. They wouldn't have come here so under-prepared if there was any significant threat.

"We're going to be doing this forever," Bart mutters under his breath as he goes through the screen, stumbling just slightly as he lands on his feet.

"Would that be so bad?" Paul quietly says in reply as Marguerit walks past them both. Bart feels a small flash of irritation. Surely his father realized that he couldn't keep going to empty caves for weeks on end? Why did he have to keep acting like this wasn't important? Bart walks away without saying anything more, pointedly ignoring the guilt he feels for so quickly growing impatient of his father.

There's more green markings carved into the walls and ceiling and floor; there's another statue, more crystal-like cubes, and most of all another empty Precursor cache. _Presumably_ emptied when the Kharra had been released and the planet put under _quarantine._ Marguerit and Paul had to have known this one wouldn't contain anything useful.

Bart looks around the room that was devoid of anything more than the same few items he's seen dozens of times before, and misses his friends more than ever. Marguerit and Paul wouldn't so much as let him see anything they had written in their PDAs; and they seemed just so nonchalant about their empty-findings that Bart wishes they'd at least _act_ like they cared about how important he found this. How many more times are they going to find nothing and insist he stay longer?

Bart stares at an area where the wall had began to break down, ice and snow from the outside mountain taking hold of a corner of the room. Ryley might be able to hear him, and Avery always seemed able to tell what others were feeling. Maybe they could tell where he was. _I'm okay!_ He thinks, desperately hoping they could hear his thoughts somehow. _I'll be back soon!_

"There's dozens of these caves; I'm sure we'll find something eventually." Marguerit's voice makes him glance up. "..Whatever something happens to be."

Bart hums. He still wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, or why he was even doing it; but he's certain it has something to do with the Precursors. It always seemed to lead back to them, intertwined for thousands of years with everything on the planet. The release of the Kharra shaped everything too much for it to not have to do with the Precursors.

Marguerit and Paul still seemed... less than happy with Bart's lack of plan and goal.

"How d'you think that happened?" Marguerit changes the subject after a moment of silence. She seemed to talk more than she did on the crater; she asked more questions in a single day that Bart ever remembers her asking in months back then. He focuses on the wall, actually staring at it without getting lost in thought.

Only one of the corners had been damaged, looking almost as if something had torn it apart, the snow stretching for several meters in a jagged way.

"Maybe one of those worm leviathans attacked it," He muses. Against one side of the ice wall, several crates were stacked. Bart stares at them for a moment. They looked oddly familiar. He walks closer.

Alterra was written down one side. Somebody had already been here. What if they found something and brought it back? Bart figures it would at least make a good excuse to return to his habitat. But why drag crates down here and leave them in one section of an abandoned cache?

Just as he opens his mouth to question Marguerit on it, she kicks the bottom of the pile and the crates fly off. Bart takes a step back to avoid getting hit by one. Behind the stack was a tunnel of ice, a strange mirror like effect arising from the sheer amount of it. He blinks up at Marguerit, who shrugs.

"Saw a crack in the wall."

"..You could have just.. moved them down."

"That's not as fun."

He hears footsteps from behind him, and Bart turns to see Paul walking up, his eyebrows furrowed. "What are you two doing? Why's there a hole in the wall?"

"I don't know. Wanna see where it goes?" Marguerit replies, still staring at the discovered tunnel.

"What? No. We have no idea what's down there." Paul responds flatly. Bart feels a pull to explore the tunnel now, all of a sudden.

"It can't be anything that bad. Clearly a person has already gone this way." Bart looks at his father for a moment. He takes a step towards the ice tunnel, but he doesn't manage more than that before Paul races up and grabs his arm.

"You don't know that they got out. You're _certainly_ not going down first!" Bart glares at him, and prepares for further complaint, but Marguerit shoulders past them both, muttering under her breathe.

"Marguerit!" Paul calls. Bart darts away while he was distracted, following her. _"Bart!"_ He snaps as Bart disappears, darkness quickly swallowing him as light from the cache fades away. Only a few moments pass before Bart hears his father quickly following after them.

"Surely you've both learned _not_ to throw yourself into the _first sign of danger_ by now!?" Paul snaps as soon as he's caught up, Marguerit slowing down after the darkness is enough to make Bart unsure if his eyes were even still open.

"Throwing myself into danger is the only reason I'm still alive," Bart counters. If they'd done nothing but stay safely within habitats and shallows, they'd never have made it anywhere. He would have died years ago to the Kharra.

 _Kharra._ Remembering it gives Bart pause. He'd struggled with small amounts of enzyme left by peepers in order to survive, and he'd only just barely managed to. There was no Emperor over here, no peepers, no enzyme. How were Marguerit and his father still alive? They didn't even appear sick as far as Bart could tell.

Just as Bart's about to ask, Marguerit stops abruptly, and Bart narrowly manages to avoid crashing into her.

"Well? What now?" Paul prompts.

"You can't smell that?"

"I've been busy trying to stop you two from killing yourselves." Paul replies impatiently. Bart tries to ignore the sound of his rapid heartbeat. He recoils once it finally hits him.

"Somethin's been down here a while." Marguerit murmurs.

"Probably eaten by something bigger!" Paul whispers back. Marguerit scoffs.

"More likely a cave-in with these sheets of ice holding everything together. Nothing's come to eat it yet, either."

Bart grows impatient with their hesitation. He wasn't afraid of a dead snowstalker hidden away in a cave. He squeezes past Marguerit and continues down into the cave, ignoring the protests behind him.

The ice beneath his feet slowly gets stickier with dried blood lying on top. Bart tries to ignore the almost overwhelming smell of it all. Surely it all couldn't have come from _one_ animal?

Just as it feels like the tunnel stained with blood would never end, Bart realizes it was getting brighter. He could tell the walls apart from the floor, and clearly see the trail of blood. Tufts of fur littered the ground every few steps.

Finally, finally, he steps out into a much more open cave. A hole in the roof let in sunlight. The rotten smell was definitely worse, however.

Below, the ground dropped into a clearing. Papers and crates were scattered about, but a few desks were still nearly lined together. A PDA with a bloody hand-print sat at the edge of one.

"See?" Marguerit was calling to Paul as the two of them walked in. "Nothing. Sometimes tunnels are just tunnels."

"You were just lucky this time. If a leviathan attacked us, I would have left you behind."

"I expect nothing less."

Bart rolls his eyes and peers down further into the clearing. He blinks. "Uh.." He calls, but he finds himself at a loss of words and instead looks behind himself at the two.

"What?" Marguerit barely gets the word out before she pauses. "Oh."

 _'Oh'_ was, quite frankly, a _huge_ under-reaction to Bart. From the ledge they were up on, Bart can't make out the face of the body slumped against the wall, and every passing millisecond fills him with more dread that it might be someone he knew. He makes out black hair. He strains for any signs of blue, and hopes more than he's ever hoped for something before that he would not find any.

It was several meters down to the clearing, but Bart can't see any path down. He thinks a snowstalker would be able to make the jump down with ease. Was this a den? Was somebody dragged down here? Why hadn't the animal eaten them yet? The rotting smell was bad enough that they must have been here for.. a while.

Behind him, he hears Paul and Marguerit arguing. Bart doesn't even have to listen to their words to know that his father was surely blaming Marguerit. A small part of Bart almost hopes she had, because then he'd know that all of the handful he met back at the crater would have to be safe. It almost feels easier to rationalize than some creature attacking them for the fun of it. And yet Marguerit had almost always been with Bart and Paul since he found her, the three of them constantly going to cave after cave.

She wouldn't have had the time to do this. Not to mention that she was a mercenary. She's killed before, and she's never been secretive about that fact. If she had done it, why would she even bother trying to hide it? She never had before.

Bart gives up on trying to figure out a way down, and instead opts to jump down into the clearing. He hears Paul shout at him as he lands, almost falling over, pain shooting through his legs. He takes a few steps hesitantly, but other than a dull ache in his ankles that was quickly beginning to fade, he felt fine.

Bart looks back up the ledge. "It isn't that far," He defends, seeing his father staring down at him.

"Try to avoid breaking your ankles, if you can?" Paul calls down through his teeth. Marguerit looks faintly amused for a moment before following his approach, although she doesn't land as well as he does. She hisses as she stumbles, limping for a moment as she regains her balance. Bart is almost convinced that his father would follow, but he remains on the ledge.

Now that he was actually in the clearing, Bart almost wishes he hadn't jumped down at all. The smell of blood and rotting flesh was making Bart horribly nauseous, and he couldn't see any obvious way out. He could look over and see their face, but he almost doesn't want to. He's terrified that he might recognize it.

Marguerit doesn't seem to have any of his same worries, as she immediately walks over to investigate. Bart hangs back a bit, finally peeking up to look closer.

His heart nearly stops in relief once he realizes it wasn't anyone he met on the crater, and it wasn't Robin, Sam, or Jeffrey. Then he feels guilty. Whoever they were, they were probably apart of the Vesper. Bart would need to tell them about this.

"..Who is it?" Paul calls down to them, his gaze flickering between Bart and Marguerit.

Marguerit shrugs, and Bart answers quietly, "I don't think I've ever seen them before." He pauses for a moment. "Sam- Sam told me there was a fourth one of them still alive, Maxim; but he never left the habitat." Bart has no idea how he could have ended up all the way over here - but it was the only person he could possibly image to be the one laying in front of him.

"Well," Marguerit starts, "Whoever they were, wasn't anything from this planet that dragged them down here."

Bart blinks. "What?"

Marguerit gestures towards him, and Bart hesitantly walks close enough to crouch just a bit farther than Marguerit was. Their eyes were still open, staring at nothing, and Bart tries to not flinch away in alarm. A hole was cut into their shirt, dark red staining the area around it. A slice tore through their neck, dried blood staining the entire area. There were no bite or claw marks, no fur or burns to be found. The torn hole in their shirt was the only damaged part of their clothing.

Marguerit glances up at him. "This place is filled with desks and papers. Nothing other than humans have been down here for a long while."

Bart had already come to the same conclusion, but he desperately tries to find a way to contradict it. He opens his mouth, but he can't come up with anything. "Why would-" he starts, struggling to think, a deep sense of dread settling in his stomach, "Why would someone do this? Working together is the only way we'll survive on this planet."

Marguerit is silent for a moment. "Maybe. You said yourself that your group didn't like being here. Perhaps this is how they planned to convince you to go back."

Bart stares at her. _"None of them_ would _kill_ someone!" He defends harshly. "I _know_ that they wouldn't!"

"People are capable of anything if they want something badly enough." Marguerit replies, not looking up at him. Bart stands up and back away. He feels dizzy. He'd much rather accuse anything else than any of the people he knew. They would never do something like this.

And yet, a small part of his head nags at him. What if they _would?_ What if Marguerit was right?

"I need to go look for them." Bart whispers. He raises his voice so Marguerit and his father could hear, "I have to go back to the habitat. I _have_ to see the others."

 _To make sure they're okay,_ he tells himself silently as Marguerit begrudgingly stands up, hissing a string of curses as she places weight down on one leg.

 _Or to question them as if you've never met them before?_ A tiny voice seems to ask as Paul pulls them up from a small ladder of boxes they pushes against one wall. There had been another tunnel, but none of them had any idea where it went, and Bart had been far too worried about leaving his father to walk the tunnels alone.

None of them had anything to do with this. None of them know this has happened. They wouldn't kill someone. They _wouldn't._

Bart repeats the words in his head, trying so, so hard to believe them. He trusts his friends. He trusts Emily and Ozzy and Roman. He trusts Danby and Milo. He trusts Jochi.

He trusts Ryley and Avery.

 _None_ of them did this. _None_ of them know.

Bart's heart hurts with how much he hopes he's right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HONEY, YOU'VE GOT A BIG STORM COMIN
> 
> ALSO i realize now that bart nicknaming the snowstalker em kinda seems to b implying emily bc thats a common nickname for emily BUT ITS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE EMPEROR I SWEAR. the emperor doesn't have like an actual Name in this au tho they just refer to her as the emperor so. em! i couldn't think of anything else that didn't sound dumb OANRGKJALKFJ  
> maybe im making a big deal out of specifying that but i wanted to clarify jic,,,


	13. Chapter 12

The sun is high in the sky, lighting up the giant lily-pads to a bright shade of green. Small fish swim pass, a few stopping to chirp excitedly, others simply slowing to drift beside them. The sharks are less concerned, sticking low to the ground, far away as they can. Sea monkeys exclaim in excited noises, swimming around in circles, darting in front of the sharks before quickly swimming away again. The creatures were sick, yet still content, still enjoying their lives. As if nothing were out of the ordinary.

Mariana guides a tiny school towards a bubble of precious enzyme, the creatures letting out noises of _thanks_ as their rough and torn scales are covered. The orange sticks for a few moments, offering a bit of peace and relief. They swim off again, appearing uplifted. Mariana swims slowly down, closer to the ocean floor, pausing to rest against the sand and grass. Bits of blue and green and yellow sway in the current, some hiding places for the smallest of creatures, others food for the larger herbivores. The water was warmer today. They relished the sun.

 _"The humans do not stop like you do,"_ A voice pipes up, coming to sit down beside Mariana.

 _"They have more worries than us. They do not have the luxury of safety, or of gills in the water."_ They chirp in reply to the other Emperor. Boo gives a nod.

 _"If only they could see this world as we do. I fear some of them do not think of these lives."_ Mariana watches another school of fish swim by. They reach out, listening to the sounds of the humans. Most of them were in the ocean now, slowly exploring, testing what distance they needed to stay from the sharks, discovering how far each tunnel and cave stretched, collecting and taking for themselves. The few of them would not take too much, they know; these humans did care for their adopted planet. But they still took more than they needed. They did not seem to realize it much at all.

Further, three of them were chatting. Mariana does not need to listen in to know they were worried. They already know that one had been lost. The rest of them would figure it out soon enough.

 _"Should we tell them?"_ Mariana asks, opening the eyes they hadn't noticed to even had closed in the first place.

Boo does not reply right away. Mariana knows they are as conflicted as themself. Torn between concern for their safety, and yet understanding the beliefs of all the humans.

 _"The ancients are the ones that trapped our Parent. Why should we help them now?"_ Boo avoids the question, with a bitter one of their own. Boo had missed Her more than the others, missed the chance to know their parent. They had all been trapped down there for so long, and yet She had dealt with it more than Mariana and their hatch-mates had. Boo did not want to forgive the one that still lived.

 _"It was not them that trapped us down there. One cannot be judged for the others in their species, can they?"_ Mariana does not expect a reply, and continues, _"I suspect they will all know very soon what has happened. We must solve the sickness. It will fade from their minds soon."_

Mariana gets up from their perch, heading further into the shadows cast from the lily-pads floating at the surface. Boo follows after a moment. The sharks scramble away from the leviathans with growls of alarm. Mariana gives a small clicking, apologizing for startling the creatures that were much, much smaller than them. The herbivores eye them warily, and the ones small enough that the humans could hold did not appear worried at all.

 _"We have tried for so long already. I cannot see what prevents these ones from being cured."_ Boo thinks aloud. _"Is it something we are doing wrong?"_ They fret.

Mariana slowly shakes their head. _"We have done all we can. It is not us."_

Squeals of newly hatched sharks and sea monkeys fill the water, a soothing noise to the leviathans. They watched as two swim around each other, playing a game that Mariana had not since they were young. It makes them yearn for their first early weeks, nothing but fun and love to be found in their life. They work at the problem from each angle, yet they cannot find a solution.

They know that the planet has managed to survive for so long, despite the sickness. It was not necessarily urgent that they cure everything. But Mariana did not like the sounds or the sights of infection. They could hear the creatures struggling to be optimistic once the blisters appear, they could see their energies draining as day after day their life is sapped away. They would have children, and the cycle would repeat.

The planet was not in danger of death, the creatures not in danger of extinction. But they were suffering. Mariana must find a way to stop it.

 _"I worry for the humans most of all,"_ Boo admits quietly. A few of the sharks notice their distress, and offer barks of sympathy. Mariana chirps in agreement.

They were not geared for surviving such sickness for long. If anything, they needed the cure for _them._ They had all raised Mariana and their siblings, and they had already lost their birth parent. Mariana does not want to lose more.

 _"We have much more work ahead of us,"_ Mariana sighs. They drift away from the floor, closer to the surface. They're faintly away of Boo following close behind. _"It feels as if we've hardly had a break since we were born."_

Boo gently headbutts Mariana's flank. It was only a small notion, but they appreciate greatly all the same.

They are glad that they were not alone to face this. As much as Mariana loved their parents, the hatch-mates they grew up with held a bond that was not entirely the same. Mariana could not have asked for better beings to have known in their life.

They would solve this problem and move forward, like they always have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i needed a happy little chap b4 the next one,,,, :)  
> ANYWAYS I LOVE THE SEA EMPS SO MUCH I WOULD DIE FOR THEM


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:)

Hardly an hour had passed before the group split up, each with their own set of tasks, in a effort to make the habitat just a bit less cramped than before. Roman had split up the groups, looking Ryley in the eyes as he told him and Milo to stay in the base to tally their resources. Ryley wanted nothing more than an excuse to talk to Danby, but reluctantly nodded all the same. The base was eerily silent now that everyone else had swam off to do something else, only occasionally stopping to drop off something before leaving to collect more.

Milo was organizing the collection of titanium, copper, and quartz that Jochi and Ozzy had been gathering, counting quietly under his breathe. Ryley watches him for a moment. Milo hadn't said anything to him since they returned.

Ryley's ears were finally recovered enough that he didn't hear a constant ringing, but as much as he would like to, he decidedly doesn't try to track any of the others outside the base.

Ryley looks back at the fabricator, slowly making glass out of the pieces of quartz that Milo had silently passed to him. Ryley doesn't know if he's ever felt so horribly lonely.

The fabricator beeps, and Ryley places the newly formed piece of glass straight into a storage unit, and sets to making another piece. One fabricated material after the other, placing them into storage, and making more. He's been repeating the process for what feels like forever now. His legs still ache, his lungs still burn, but he hasn't the time to rest yet. He has no idea where Avery and Emily were, no closer to finding Bart.

Ryley jumps at the sound of a hatch opening. He turns his head to see Robin and Sam walk in, scraps of kelp and stalker teeth in their packs. Robin meets his eyes, and the voice in the back of his head seems to make some quiet noise.

"You two seem busy," She muses as she walks closer to drop the pack of stalker teeth, loosely tied together at the top.

Ryley shrugs, "Everyone is right now." Robin blinks.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't want to be crafting and putting all of this away. Roman's putting you to work." Her voice is faintly sympathetic, surely guessing that Roman was purposefully keeping them in here.

"We probably deserve it," Milo adds in as he shoves a handful of copper chunks on a shelf.

Robin lets out a quiet laugh. "Good luck with that," She says to the both of them as she and Sam walk back to the hatch. Sam says a similar goodbye before the hatch closes behind them.

Ryley glances over to Milo again. "At least they're nicer than Marguerit was," Ryley halfheartedly jokes, desperate to keep the silence away. He was growing tired of only hearing the fabricator and Milo's almost silent counting.

A few seconds pass without Milo replying, and Ryley feels defeat weigh on his heart before he hears Milo finally murmur, "Is Emily okay? Can you hear her?"

Ryley almost lets himself lie, almost tells Milo that she was fine. But he doesn't want to give him even more reason to like him less, so Ryley quietly answers with the truth. "They're too far away. I don't know."

Milo winces. "I-I meant Avery, too." He murmurs as he stares down at a piece of quartz in his hands as if he'd never seen a chunk of it before. Ryley blinks at him, unable to blame him for placing the concern of one over others of the group. Ryley had done the same with Bart, hadn't he? And he doesn't dare start an argument on purpose.

"We're going to need more storage soon," Ryley changes the subject, staring at the newly added packs, moving them a bit closer to a growing pile of materials. Ryley thought it seemed a bit much; there wasn't much point in making their habitat too big, was there? They'd be returning to the crater before too much time passed. Ryley pauses. Were they not going to return to the crater? Were they going to live here now? Ryley feels a pang of homesickness for the islands and the shallows, the deep green kelp forests and the grassy plateaus.

"Hopefully they found Bart by now," Milo continues, as if he hadn't heard Ryley. Somehow, Ryley doubts they have. Perhaps he was being too pessimistic. None of the others seemed too concerned now that they had something to do other than sitting in the habitat.

"Why don't you like me anymore?" Ryley blurts out, then immediately wishes he hadn't. "I mean, you never want to talk to me and you keep blaming everything on me-" _Stop talking, Ryley!_ He thinks to himself, snapping his jaw shut.

Milo was still staring at the piece of quartz. After a moment, he sighs. "Bart and Roman listen to almost anything you say, and then they convince everyone else to agree with you. You keep making terrible decisions and- Danby almost broke his ribs, and you almost killed yourself with hypothermia. It's hard not to blame you."

A moment of silence sits in the air. Ryley has no idea how to respond. Milo continues. "I don't dislike you. You're still my friend." His voice lowers to hardly more than a whisper, "But I'm scared. For all of us, all the time. It's easier to blame something tangible than just dealing with things happening for no reason."

Ryley stares at him. "Yeah," he replies, "That's fair, I guess."

"Sorry."

Ryley shrugs, trying to not appear as lost and upset as he felt. "It's fine." He figures he at least has a reason and an apology now. It doesn't do anything for the loneliness settling in his chest. But at least he has it.

"..We should probably get back to this before Roman yells at us again." Milo says, finally placing the quartz in the storage unit next to the copper he'd shoved in. "Honestly, I don't even think the doors to this are going to close. Have we ever had so much copper before?"

Ryley doesn't get a chance to reply before the hatch opens again, another group stopping by; Danby was carrying a pack stuffed with lead and gold, and behind him Jeffrey follows with a smaller bag of silver. Danby drops his without a word, looking everywhere except at another person. Jeffreys throws his towards the pile, Danby immediately turning and scurrying back outside as soon as he does. Milo stares after him for a moment. Jeffrey doesn't follow, however, pausing to look at Ryley.

"Surely we don't need two people for sorting and using a fabricator?" He asks, a humorous tone to his voice. "All of this would go faster if you were out helping."

Ryley isn't exactly sure how to respond, but Milo lets out a snort of contempt. "And try to figure out the mess after the pile takes up half the habitat? I'm happy with sorting now."

Jeffrey blinks at him. "If you insist." He turns his gaze back to a Ryley, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Robin, Danby, and I are planning on taking a trip down to a cave our scanners picked up. Danby says you'd make a good look-out with your hearing."

Ryley stares at him for a moment, and out of the corner of his eye he sees Milo glance up and glare at Jeffrey. "It.. doesn't really sound like Danby to sneak off to a cave." He responds hesitantly.

Jeffrey shrugs. "Well, it's more to stop him from telling Roman where we've gone, but he hasn't complained much yet." He pauses for a moment, "Come on, you're looking for Precursor stuff, aren't you? What if there's something useful in that cave?"

"I.." Ryley looks over at Milo, but he just rolls his eyes.

"If you run off again, fine, but I'm not covering for you. You can fabricate everything when you get back like you were supposed to."

That wasn't exactly the answer Ryley was looking for, but he sighs all the same. "..Alright." He didn't want to leave Danby alone with Jeffrey and Robin - although he severely doubts Robin would let anything happen to him on purpose, he still finds himself doubting Jeffrey from the conversation he overheard. Danby would surely feel safer with Ryley beside him. And if Milo wasn't going to stop him..

Jeffrey's eyes brighten. "No time to lose then." He turns to leave the habitat, not pausing to make sure Ryley was following. Ryley glances over one last time at Milo, who was looking more anxious now that he knew Ryley was planning on leaving.

"Try to be back before Roman. I don't want to get in trouble again."

Ryley forces a small smile. "Already planning on it,"

Milo gives him a small nod. "And don't die, if you can help it?"

"Great advice," Ryley replies, "Anything else you could tell me, wise one?"

Milo laughs quietly. Ryley leaves the habitat unsure if he felt better or worse.

He finds Danby lazily floating at the surface only a few dozen meters away. He jumps when Ryley calls out a greeting.

"He actually talked you into this?" Danby gasps when Ryley swims closer. Ryley considers asking him more about Jeffrey - Danby seemed nervous around him all the time, and Ryley is certain there's a reason. He couldn't figure it out from the small snippet of conversation he'd heard from the two. But he had no idea where Jeffrey and Robin were, and he didn't want either to overhear Ryley questioning Danby on it. He doesn't trust either to know of his suspicions, and he fears it would put Danby even more at risk. "What did Milo say? Roman might _actually_ kill us this time! This is a terrible idea." Danby continues on in a ramble, clearly panicked.

Ryley hesitantly draws in breath. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be way too pissed off at me to bother with what you were up to," He jokes, but it comes off a bit flat with how nervous he was feeling himself. Danby doesn't appear even slightly comforted, glancing wildly around as if danger was lurking behind every wave. Ryley doesn't think he's ever seen him so fearful. He winces.

Before Ryley can come up with something else to say to him, Robin's head pops up out of the water, startling Danby. She gives him an apologetic glance, then looks at Ryley. "Jeffrey is getting the SeaTruck."

Danby blinks. "Do we need a SeaTruck? Won't the others hear it?"

Robin hums. "Cave's about 600 meters down. I think you'll find it useful." Her eyes sparkle with humor, but Danby still looks faintly uncertain. "I told him we'd meet him half-way there, so the others don't notice a very loud SeaTruck right next to their base."

"Smart idea," Danby murmurs.

As they set off, Ryley slowly lets Robin draw ahead. Danby kept glancing over his shoulder, and Ryley wanted to reassure him - yet he wasn't sure if he wanted Robin to know about his hearing just yet. She glances back at them once, but she doesn't pause to wait. Ryley feels a surge of relief. There's a faint buzzing in his head. _That was you, wasn't it?_

_She won't shut up now. I hope you're happy._

Ryley smiles for a moment. _Very._ He turns to glance at Danby, and nudges his shoulder. Danby flinches back, and glares at Ryley for a moment.

"Sorry," Ryley murmurs, "You don't have to go with us, you know? You seem jumpy."

Danby hesitates for a moment, "I'm fine. Besides," His eyes brighten a bit, "You've been running off alone way too often. Somebody's gotta keep an eye on you."

Ryley lightly shoves him. "I wouldn't be alone! Robin and Jeffrey are going, too!"

Danby instantly looks put-off again. "Sure," He answers. Ryley stares at him for a moment, and glances ahead of them; Robin was still considerably far ahead.

Ryley carefully thinks over his words. "Danby, I know-" He starts quietly.

"Jeff!" Robin interrupts, staring down into the water. "Up here!"

Danby stares at him. "Know what?" His voice was hardly a whisper.

Ryley shakes his head. "It- it can wait." He quickly mutters as Robin dives down. "Let's not keep them waiting, yeah?"

* * *

They drive until the water turns dark around them, before finally finding a tunnel entrance further down. Giant purple crystals covered almost every surface, stretching from the ceiling, covering the walls, all giving off a dim light. Ryley looks around in amazement.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jeffrey murmurs, looking around at the glowing shards. "I think I'd stay down here more often if it weren't so far from the surface." He pauses for a moment. "And if there weren't leviathans."

Robin looks down at him. "Leviathans? More than one?"

He nods. "Only two of them, but one is enough trouble as is."

Ryley cautiously reaches out his hearing. He could hear something swimming further in - they seemed about the size of a reaper. Ryley hopes they weren't has much trouble as the crater leviathan. If they were lucky, they might be able to get past them easily enough by sticking to the walls. Before Ryley could get a chance to tell Jeffrey to turn the SeaTruck lights off, he realizes he'd already had; the light given off by the crystals were just enough to help them see what was in-front of them.

Ryley glances back into the SeaTruck. Danby was pacing the small compartment, growing more stressed the further into the cave they got. Ryley wishes he had just told him to stay behind. Danby was just spending the entire trip freaking out. It didn't seem fair to drag him out somewhere that he clearly had no interest in being in.

Thankfully, their route keeps them mostly clear of the leviathans. Ryley can only just manage to catch sight of one from a dark corner, it's eyes and mouth giving off blue hues, the rest of it a solid black that blended all too well into the walls of the cave that lacked the crystals. As least their bioluminescence gave them away easily enough - the reapers were always impossible to spot until they were practically right above someone. Ryley keeps an eye on it as the SeaTruck passes, but it doesn't come any closer to them.

When he turns his gaze to look forward again, he blinks in surprise. A structure that looked very similar to the teleporter gates back at the crater was built into the wall, several lights making the area much more noticeable than its surroundings. Ryley still wasn't entirely used to how the Precursor tech still worked, how it existed at all.

He eyes Jeffrey and Robin.

Robin's eyes were darting around, as if she were trying to find secrets and answers in every crack in the stone, in every faintly glowing green line, in every flickering light. She was excitedly pointing out specifics to Danby, who had finally come around to stare at the gate, humming quietly in response.

Jeffrey didn't seem surprised by the sight. But then again, he'd said he'd been down here before - perhaps more than once. Ryley briefly wonders why he wouldn't have explored the structure or the cavern it was in if he'd been here more than once. He doesn't think about it for long before the SeaTruck slows to a stop, just a bit outside the area the lights reached.

"Did you have buildings like this back at the crater?" Robin asks, grabbing a seaglide. Danby gives an unenthusiastic nod.

"A bunch of Precursor stuff is back there. Labs, research facilities, aquariums full of old skeletons.."

As he trails off, Robin looks slightly less excited and more thoughtful. She says nothing as the group leaves the SeaTruck, into the freezing water that Ryley was certain he'd never grow accustomed to.

The gate had a faint forcefield around it, bubbles and lights from both outside and in making it near impossible to see through. Going through it was as easy as it ever was, thankfully. Ryley drops a meter higher than he expected to, only avoiding losing his balance completely because of Jeffrey catching his shoulder.

"Thanks," Ryley murmurs. Danby was staring at them; Ryley could feel his gaze and hear his heartbeat picking up. But when he turned to catch Danby's eye, he'd started to hurry away himself.

Jeffrey notices the strange interaction, and stares after Danby. "Of course," He responds absentmindedly.

"Anyways," Robin loudly clears her throat, "You called them Precursors. Is that what they called themselves? We've just been calling them aliens, honestly."

Danby shrugs. "It's what Bart had been calling them. I.. never asked where he got the name, honestly."

Robin hums. "New question: what were they studying? They had labs and aquariums, and they have all these weird caches and stuff over here. What were they doing?"

Danby shares a look with Ryley. _They don't know about the Kharra? But it's over here, too!_

They walk further into the Precursor lab. Various robotic parts sat in clear containers, wires wandering all over the floor. Ryley nearly trips over them more than once.

"They were trying to find a cure for a disease. There's a species of leviathan here that makes enzyme that can cure it, and they wanted the enzyme." Ryley explains briefly. It was a good enough overview, he supposes.

Robin glances over at Jeffrey. "I'm guessing they didn't figure that out quick enough?"

Ryley nods solemnly. "I think most of them died from it, honestly." He answers, because any that were still on the planet when the Kharra got released surely got infected. Bart had told him of at least a handful of them that had become sick - and who knows how many were on the planet to research the Kharra?

Robin doesn't ask anymore questions about it. Ryley didn't particularly want to answer anything about it, anyways.

They walk in silence until they reach a wall that looked vaguely like a forcefield lock - but there was no forcefield, just metal blocking the way forward.

Jeffrey hums, staring at the stand next to him. "We don't have any of those locks left." He sighs. "Now what?"

Robin is quiet for a moment. "Maybe there's a different way to activate it?" She questions, looking around the room. Ryley takes a few steps back to stand closer to Danby as the two Vesper crew started clawing and pushing at anything that might give them a way through.

Danby nudges his arm. "Are you ever going to tell me what you vaguely mentioned you know?" He anxiously whispers.

Ryley stares at him for a moment. "Why are you so concerned about it?" He tests, desperate to prove to himself that everything was fine, and Danby was just nervous because of the danger of the planet.

But the question just proves to push Danby more on edge. "I- I was just wondering, you brought it up in the first place, so I figured you probably thought it was important, and-" He cuts himself off with a cough. Ryley winces, hoping it was just a random one and not connected to the Kharra. He knew they were all infected again, but he can't stand the thought of any of them getting too sick to leave their bed again.

Shifting his weight between his legs, Ryley glances over at the Vesper crew again. They seemed transfixed on their current task. He hesitates for just a moment longer before giving in, feeling too guilty over causing Danby even more anxiety. "I heard you and Jeffrey talking when he first came to our habitat." He murmurs. Danby stiffens from beside him, standing up unnaturally straight. Ryley quickly continues, "I only overheard some of it. I have no idea what you were talking about. But it was suspicious as hell, and you keep acting weird anymore, especially around him!"

"It- it's nothing. I'm fine." Danby quickly replies.

"It sounded like he was _threatening_ you, Danby." Ryley pries, "Why would he be doing that?"

"He _wasn't,_ and _I_ didn't do anything!" Danby snaps, his voice raising above a whisper. Jeffrey looks back at them, his eyes narrowing, and Danby shrinks back, hurrying back towards the entrance of the cave. Ryley watches him go without saying anything. He was certain he was hiding something, but it was clear he wouldn't get the answer anytime soon. He sighs quietly.

"I'll go check on him," Jeffrey murmurs to him as he passes, following after Danby. Ryley opens his mouth, wanting to call him back, but hesitates. If he had, Jeffrey would know that Ryley knew something, and he was too worried about what else he might be up to to get on his nerves. Instead, Ryley watches him walk away, anxiety twisting his stomach.

He shakes his head and turns to look back at Robin. She was watching Jeffrey walk away. She turns to Ryley the second he was out of eyesight, "I can open this without a key," She blurts out.

Ryley blinks. He doesn't get a chance to question it before she walks over to the terminal, and places her hand on it, "I didn't want the other two to know." She murmurs, and a few moments of silence pass before the door opens. Ryley's gaze flickers between the now open area and Robin. She walks past the door without looking back at him, and he quickly hurries after her.

"Al-An says you can hear them too, so I figured it'd be safe to tell you." She continues as they reach a room with even more robotic parts. A suspended platform was in the center of the room, two sets of staircase leading up to it.

"Al-An?"

"It's their name. The alien voice thing."

Ryley looks at her. "Why'd they only tell you they have a name?"

Robin laughs. "I don't understand a single thing they do, really." She continues up one of the stairs, and Ryley follows after a moment.

"You know more about the Precursors and Kharra than you acted like, then?" Ryley guesses. Robin nods after a moment. Ryley feels faintly impressed by her acting.

At the center of the platform was another terminal, but it looked different from the key-locked ones. Robin stares at it for a moment, humming. If she were able to open this one, she made no move to. Instead, she leans against the railing, and looks at Ryley. "You have no idea how hard it was to not tell anybody by now! I knew it'd just freak Sam and Jeff out, and Maxim would probably just treat me even worse if he knew there was an alien living in my head, and the only other people I've talked to seem to hate me! It's impossible! And Al-An comments on every single thing I do, I keep almost replying to him aloud! I think I'd have lost it going another day like this!" She jumbles out the words, finally stopping to draw air.

Ryley struggles to process all of it. "Wait, they're living in your head?" He questions.

Robin makes a vague gesture with her hands. "It was an accident! I'm trying to get them out! But they're so picky and they aren't doing anything to help!"

Ryley snorts. "How exactly do you plan on fixing an alien in your head?"

She gestures to the robot parts scattered around in containers around the room. "They want me to build them a new vessel and.. move their consciousness into it?"

"You don't sound that confident."

She scoffs. "Well, that's all they've told me, at least." She pauses, "It sure would be easier if I could explore these bases alone, but Sam doesn't like that idea, and I've already done enough to upset her. I don't want to make it even worse." Her voice gets quiet. She glances up at Ryley. "I can't tell Jeff. I think he's almost figured it out by now, honestly, but he'd be more worried than Sam. He's a good friend, but I worry about what he'd do to get Al-An away from us all. He's terrified of what Alterra might do with all that we know about these aliens."

There's a hint of fear in her gaze, and Ryley feels convinced he has to talk to Danby later now. How could any of them possibly trust Jeffrey if even his friends weren't sure of what he was capable of?

"If there's anything to do to help, I will," Ryley swears, willing the exhausted ache that seemed to always be present in his bones anymore to allow him to do more. Once Al-An was dealt with, Jeffrey would calm down, and everything would be fine again.

Robin looks relieved enough that Ryley feels even worse for the stress she'd had to deal with. If he'd disabled the quarantine platform sooner, she wouldn't be having these problems at all. "Thank you," She answers earnestly.

Ryley hardly notices the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching until Jeffrey slides to a halt just in the room. Robin glances down from the platform with a startled look. Ryley worries that he overheard for a panicked moment.

“Danby took the SeaTruck!” He gasps out instead, “We’re stuck down here!”

Ryley stares at him in alarm. Danby would never have done something like that. Robin glances over at Ryley for a moment, before quickly rushing down the platform. Ryley follows after a moment of hesitation.

“I tried to get him to listen to me, but I couldn’t stop him.” Jeffrey continues as the three walk quickly back to the cave entrance. Robin walks out through the forcefield for a moment before popping back into the cave. “What do we do now? We didn’t tell anyone where we went.” Jeffrey worries. Robin slowly shakes her head.

“It’s..almost 700 meters to the surface from here. We have enough O2 to make that with our Seaglides.” She murmurs, glancing over at Ryley.

Ryley takes a step forward with a nod, “We swam further than that back at the crater _without_ Seaglides.” He needed to get out of this cave and find Danby. He can’t possibly keep quiet any longer - if Danby was willing to leave him and Robin down here just in an attempt to get away from Jeffrey, there must be something _terribly_ wrong.

“We need to catch up with him,” Robin continues with a brief look at Ryley, as if she knew what he was thinking. _Al-An,_ he thinks. They must have told her. If Jeffrey noticed the glance, he doesn’t comment on it. “See you at the surface.” She tells both of them, before picking up her Seaglide and jumping back into the water with a deep breath.

Ryley picks up his own Seaglide, and takes a deep breath himself, trying desperately to remember the route out. He turns to jump through the forcefield, before something slams into his skull from the side, and he skids sideways from the impact, his ears ringing. He takes a few steps back, blinking to clear his fuzzy vision, and looks up.

Jeffrey holds a bloodied Seaglide. There was an terrified look in his eyes. Ryley's stomach twists.

“You know, don’t you? Danby told you! I knew I couldn’t trust him!” Jeffrey snarls, taking a step forward. Ryley takes one back. “Maxim would have told Alterra everything! It was him or all of us! You would have done the same!”

Ryley’s head whirls. He can feel blood dripping from his forehead, the smell of iron choking him. “Maxim? What-?” He pauses as he struggles to understand. “What are you _talking_ about?”

Jeffrey drops the Seaglide, and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out a knife. Ryley eyes it, panic starting to flutter in his chest. With Jeffrey standing in front of the forcefield, he had no way out. He was trapped down here. “Alterra already knows too much about this place because of your stupid PDA’s and your need to talk about everything! They’re still connected to the database! Your engineers didn’t even think to turn them offline?”

Jeffrey pauses to stare down at his knife for a moment. “I-I had no other choice. I couldn’t let my friends suffer because he was too greedy for this damn planet and its resources.”

Realization dawns on Ryley. “You killed Maxim?” He whispers. Jeffrey glances back, confusion on his face turning to terror.

“..You _didn’t_ know?” He murmurs. Ryley takes another step backwards, and Jeffrey takes one forward. Both of them seemed equally as horrified. "You really didn't know?"

_“Danby_ knew?!” Ryley feels as if everything were falling down around him. “Why wouldn’t he _say_ something? Why didn’t he tell _me?_ Why did you-?” He cuts himself off when he runs into something, and looks behind him to see the cave wall. He barely gets a moment to think about it before something slices his cheek, and he blindly flinches away, trying to drag his feet away from the wall, and yet he feels trapped on all sides. Blood was dripping into his eyes, and his ears were ringing too much for him to tell anything apart.

_Help!_ He thinks quickly, _Get Robin!_

_I told you, you would not understand._

Ryley freezes, and when he glances up, Jeffrey had paused. “You know already know about Al-An?” Ryley asks, his voice hoarse. “Why would they want anything to do with _you?!_ ” He snaps, betrayal flowing through his veins. Al-An knew about _all_ of this! _You knew! I've done nothing but help you! I was going to help you more! How can you let him do this?!  
_

_I do not pick sides. I only want to survive. One will always be more willing to do what they must than others. You were not that person._

Jeffrey darts forward, and Ryley tries to back quickly away, but his feet still end up knocked out from under him anyway. He lands with a huff, his breath knocked out of him. As he struggles to breathe again, Jeffrey kneels down and leans over him.

There’s a knife pressed to his throat.

Ryley blinks, trying to clear the blood from his eyes. Jeffrey looks small and afraid. Ryley feels no remorse.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” He murmurs, “You have done nothing to me. You’re a good man. But I must look after myself, Robin, and Sam, before anyone else.” He pauses with a quick glance over his shoulder. “At least you won’t be around to see any of it.”

Ryley is desperate to draw out time. If he gets his breath back, maybe he could manage to knock Jeffrey away and make a dash for the water. Robin wouldn’t come back soon enough to help him, Al-An had abandoned him, and none of the others even knew he was down here.

He was utterly alone.

The realization terrifies him.

“See what?” He gasps out, “What else could you possibly do?”

Jeffrey’s eyes darken. “I need some time to kill anyways, so Robin will believe me.” He mutters quietly, then sighs, “With you dead, I need an excuse, obviously. There’s a good suspect for me to blame right now. Someone who’s been very nervous and quiet since Maxim’s disappearance, and who also just disappeared with our SeaTruck right before you died from.. a leviathan attack?”

Ryley stares at him. “They won’t believe you.”

Jeffrey scoffs. “I have enough to make them. Danby will be digging his own grave right now, going back to the habitat without any of us.”

The knife presses harder against his neck. Ryley feels his cut through skin, and he hisses in pain. Jeffrey almost looks apologetic for a moment. “I only wanted to keep us safe,” He insists, his voice thick with emotion, “But this _damn alien_ won’t leave me alone, and _Alterra-_ Alterra wouldn’t let us go back to our lives after this. We know too much. It'll be either work with them to destroy this place and ruin everything even more back on Alterra doing so, or die. What kind of choice is that?"

Ryley can hardly breathe. The corners of his vision were going black. He opens his mouth, but he can’t speak anything.

Jeffrey removes the knife, for just a moment, and then his shoulder is harshly grabbed, and he’s shoved back against the floor.

Pain explodes through his head for a moment.

Everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh >:) how could this have happened >:)) to our poor boy >:)))


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so 1: i apologize for the last chapter everyone is crying  
> and 2: no i dont, it gets worse!!

Bart paces in the SeaTruck, every passing minute making him more and more convinced that something horribly _wrong_ has happened. It feels like more than his usual anxiety; it feels terribly real this time. His chest aches with worry.

He can feel his father's gaze on him, looking troubled, but he's had yet to say anything to Bart since they got in the SeaTruck.

All he can see is red, sliced skin, and glazed over dry eyes. All he can smell is death clinging to the air. All he can hear is Marguerit telling him that a _person_ was responsible.

"I'm.. sure the rest of them are fine," Paul finally says, yet his tone is so hesitant that Bart _knows_ he wasn't convinced himself.

"Even if they are, one of them killed somebody." Bart responds, feeling miserable. He's not sure whether the knowledge that it had to be someone he knew was worse than him actually thinking over who it could be.

"We don't know if it was just one person," Marguerit adds in, "If it was more than one, we'd never figure it out. They'd stand up for each other."

Bart sighs. He starts pacing again, glancing out the window of the SeaTruck. He blinks in surprise the same moment Marguerit slows it to a stop. Bart doesn't hesitate in jumping through the hatch and swimming to the surface, ignoring Paul calling after him.

When he finally breaks his head over the waves, he turns his head.

"We've been looking for you everywhere!" Emily all but yells. "You should know by now that those idiots fall apart whenever you leave!"

Bart snorts. "It can't be that bad, can it?" He asks, trying to ignore the anxiety still sitting in his stomach. He knew something happened.

Emily stares at him for a moment. "We're gonna need to borrow that.. whatever you call it." she murmurs, turning to look back at the island near them. "I-I heard it, so I went to fetch you."

"Why? What happened?" Bart speaks quickly. "Is everyone okay?"

Emily glances behind him, a surprised look on her face for a moment, before gesturing to follow her and swimming towards the ice. Bart doesn't think he'll ever be okay with the change from icy water straight to snow and bitter wind.

"Ryley and Danby went off with Robin and Jeffrey to explore some Precursor cave," Emily explains as they quickly traverse through the snow. There was an urgency in the way she talked, and stumbled and slipped, refusing to slow for even a moment. "Robin's fine. We don't know where Danby went. The other two were attacked by some damn leviathans."

Her voice is curt, and bitter, and Bart's certain his heart stops beating for a moment.

They turn a corner, and Bart freezes.

"If we drag him through the water, he'll just bleed out faster," Jeffrey snaps, panic in his eyes as he stares at Avery.

"If we leave him here, he'll die! We can't just do nothing!" Avery replies back.

Between the two of them, Ryley lay in the snow, the only indication that he was still alive being his shallow breathing. Blood trickled from his forehead, staining his hair. The snow around the three had turned pink.

Bart stares in horror.

"I'll carry him," Marguerit offers. Bart had hardly heard her; everything around him seemed to grind to a halt. _I've only been gone a few days!_ He felt like yelling at the universe for all he's had to live with. _How could this have happened?_ He could have stopped it.

He knows he could have stopped it.

The walk back to the SeaTruck felt agonizingly slow. Marguerit was still favoring one leg, and none of the others could do much to help. Avery had gone ahead with Paul to start the SeaTruck, and Emily had taken to looking ahead for anything worth avoiding.

Robin was walking beside Bart. He'd almost forgotten she was there at all. "He's lucky to still be alive at all," she murmurs to him, "From what I've heard, he must be the luckiest person in the galaxy to survive all of this."

Bart's gaze goes from Ryley to Jeffrey. One of his eyes was closed, a cut on his nose close enough that he could have been blinded by it. He was limping. But he still looked so much better than Ryley.

Bart's heart aches worse.

"This wouldn't have happened if our SeaTruck wasn't stolen." Jeffrey mutters bitterly. Bart stares at him for a moment, but when he turns back to Robin she looks just as crestfallen as he felt.

How did everything go so wrong?

* * *

The habitat was quiet.

Roman hadn’t even seemed angry at this point. He just looked tired and worried, glancing over to the base’s entrance every few minutes, as if he were expecting the others to appear at any time.

Somehow, it makes Danby feel even worse than if he _had_ just been yelled at. He’d elected to help with the building and fabricating in an effort to distract himself. He hasn’t stopped shaking since he’d been at the Precursor cache.

He wants to go back for them, yet he knows there's no way he could. He keeps trying to convince himself that they had to be fine; Robin seemed innocent enough in all of this, and she was getting along with everyone else in the habitat. Ryley and her would be safe with each other. Jeffrey wouldn’t hurt either of them.

Yet he can’t stop screaming silently at himself for listening to him. Of _course_ he’d been lying! How could Danby have trusted a single word from him?

_He overheard us! He was probably trying to get the leviathans to attack me!_ But neither of the leviathans paid any attention to the SeaTruck, just as they left them alone when they first passed, and Danby was almost convinced they must be docile like the reefbacks. It’d been almost an hour now, and Danby has no clue what Jeffrey must be planning, or where the three of them had gone to.

He can feel Sam and Jochi’s gazes on him as he searches for an extra battery for the builder tool. He knows there’s one in this bag somewhere, lost alongside dozens of other pieces of junk various people had stuffed in it when they had no other space. He can hear the two of them whispering to each other, just barely making out the sounds of their voice. Danby’s chest feels tight. Why weren’t the three of them back yet? Danby had made up a lie when he returned alone, too afraid still to tell an ounce of truth. He’d told them he left only with Jeffrey to look for more scrap metal. He’d told them he had no idea where Ryley or Robin were. He’d felt Milo staring at him then, just as Sam and Jochi stared at him now. Why didn’t he just tell the truth? Why doesn’t he speak up now? He can’t find the battery. Where the hell was the battery?

He _knows_ it's in the bag.

He knows he’s lying to all the people around him.

He's certain they're on the verge of knowing.

Jochi and Sam fall silent abruptly.

The hatch opens, and Robin stumbles in first, terror in her eyes. She takes a few steps forward, and pauses to stare at Danby. Their gazes lock for a moment that feels like a lifetime to Danby, before Sam rushes up to her and Robin looks away from him.

He hears Ozzy walk up beside him, watching as more people scramble into the habitat. Emily and Jeffrey follow Robin, an array of cuts and bruises on Jeffrey. Avery and Bart were the next two. Danby feels his spirits lift a bit at seeing him again.

His heart stops when he sees Ryley.

He faintly hears murmurs and gasps around him, but all he can do is stare at Jeffrey. _What have you done?_ The other doesn’t meet his gaze, just looks down at Ryley alongside everyone else. _What have_ I _done?_

“Danby?” Ozzy whispers, clearly panicked. “Do something!”

For a moment, Danby has no idea what he’s supposed to do. He feels sick with the sight of blood, he’s already so anxious his thoughts fall blank on him, and he can hardly stop himself from focusing solely on Jeffrey only a few meters from him.

“Danby!” Ozzy says again, their voice louder, and he shakes his head and takes a breath. He can do this. He’s dealt with worse.

He’s all too aware of the fact that he’s lying again.

* * *

Roman offers help, the only one still level-headed as far as Danby can tell. As the two finish with the few bandages they can around the worst of the wounds with their limited health kits, Ryley was still hardly breathing. He can hear Jeffrey and Robin explaining what had happened. Danby knows there’s two people he’s never seen before lingering almost awkwardly by the hatch, as if they weren’t sure if they should stay or go. He assumes one is Marguerit, from what Ryley and Avery had told about her, but he has no idea who the second one was.

Danby knows they were looking at him, though.

Robin kept hesitating before speaking. “I didn’t see them get attacked. I swam out first.” She murmurs, glancing over at Jeffrey.

Robin wasn’t there, Danby had left alone, and Ryley was still unconscious. Jeffrey was the only one left to tell the story. Danby tries to stop his hands from shaking. He wouldn’t say anything that Robin couldn’t back up, or that wouldn't be easy enough to believe. Danby knew his own lies would start falling apart soon.

Jeffrey scoffs, “If we had our SeaTruck, this never would have happened!” He claims, his gaze sweeping across the group.

“What happened to it?” Ozzy asks, their voice still faintly shaky, “If it wasn’t one of those leviathans that destroyed it, what did?”

Jeffrey blinks. “I never said it was destroyed, did I?”

Roman stands up. “We can’t change anything now. There’s no need to be telling stories like this as if nothing bad happened."

Roman's gaze freezes on Milo's for just a split second longer than the others as they begrudgingly back away from the circle they formed around Jeffrey and Robin. Danby catches it. He hopes none of the others do.

Nothing of what Danby told Milo was the same as Jeffrey and Robin had said. How long would it be until the entire group started questioning him about it? Danby feels sick.

There was still a swarm of questions amongst them, quiet voices filling the silence. Sam and Emily still lingered near Jeffrey, Avery was murmuring with Bart near Ryley. Danby could just manage to pick up a few of their words. Roman and Jochi were speaking to the two newcomers, a relief and joy in Jochi's eyes that made Danny think he must have known them prior.

Ozzy was at his side. Danby leans into them for a moment, desperate for some semblance of familiarity. Ozzy takes one of his hands in their own.

Yet the comfort doesn't last long. He glances up, and Jeffrey's staring at him. He makes a slight gesture with his head and walks into the hallway that led to the other rooms they'd begun work on. None of the others seem to notice his disappearance.

Danby squeezes Ozzy's hand. "Be right back," he murmurs, standing up and hesitantly following after him.

He enters one of the still empty rooms, only a single half-constructed reinforcement module built into a section of wall. Everything else was the same plain whites and grays in all the empty rooms and hallways, his footsteps echo around just loud enough to make him uncomfortable.

Jeffrey doesn't say anything for a moment that stretches. The two stare silently at each other.

Finally, Jeffrey stands a bit taller. "Ryley found out."

Danby just stares at him. "He was only questioning me about it. He didn't know."

"Well, he knows now!" Jeffrey snaps. "He wouldn't have if it weren't for you giving too much away to him!"

Danby takes a step back. "I said _nothing_ to him," he hisses, his heart picking up. "I told you about his hearing. He found out himself."

Jeffrey is quiet for a moment. Danby thinks he sees fear in his gaze, but he blinks and it's gone. "I can't let him tell everyone." he murmurs. "Screw our damn deal. I didn't come this far for him to ruin everything."

"Wait! I'll talk to him! He'll listen to me!" Danby quickly steps to block the entrance.

Jeffrey glares at him. "You've told me he's too stubborn to give up. I don't trust him." still, Danby refuses to let him pass, terror crashing over him. "Move, Danby."

"No!"

Jeffrey opens his mouth, but glances up over Danby's shoulders before he says anything. Danby looks behind him.

Avery was standing in the doorway. "Bart's called a meeting," he explains.

Jeffrey blinks in surprise, then nods. "See you there, then," he says as he passes the both of them, as if nothing had happened. Danby follows a moment later, his heart pounding loud enough that he's certain Avery would hear it. Avery says nothing as Danby passes him, but Danby can feel his gaze on him the entire short walk back.

Danby instantly walks over to Ozzy again, panic settling in his chest. He wants nothing more than to appear unbothered; maybe Jeffrey _wouldn't_ say anything, and Danby freaking out wouldn't help anything.

"Are you alright?" Ozzy asks quietly, because Danby _didn't_ look unbothered at all. He nods numbly, and ignores how guilty he feels as he does so. He was lying again. He was always lying. They stare at him for another moment, but they don't push it further.

Marguerit and the other person were further into the habitat now, but both of them still stayed close to Bart, glancing around the room and shifting uncomfortably from where they stood. Bart himself looks unsure, as eyes begin to turn to him.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to be standing around gossiping anymore?” Jeffrey complains with a pointed look at Roman.

“It’s important,” Bart insists, “It’s about Maxim.”

Jeffrey falls silent, and Robin and Sam share a worried look. Avery takes a small step forward. “You found him?”

Bart winces. “..Yeah. In a cave.”

“What happened?” Sam asks, grief already tearing into her voice. Danby looks at her, sympathy and guilt making his stomach twist even further.

Bart looks back at Marguerit and the other person for a small moment. When he speaks again, his voice is quiet. “I think a person did it. He had knife wounds.”

The habitat falls silent. Danby feels sick, his chest hurting with his attempt to control his breathing and heart rate. Everyone was looking around at each other, though no-one said anything to each other.

The silence is finally broken by Milo. “Are you sure it wasn’t just.. a leviathan or one of those snow-wolf things? How do you know it was a knife? How would you know?” There’s no accusation in his tone, just shock.

Marguerit steps forward before Bart gets a chance to reply. “He was stabbed and his neck was sliced. Otherwise, he was still perfectly intact. That sound like an animal to you?”

Milo snorts. “Well, how do we know it wasn’t you? You already tried to kill Ryley once.”

“I wouldn’t bother hiding it if I had done it,” she replies with only a hint of annoyance. “Besides, I have two people that can assure you it wasn’t me.”

“They must be wrong,” Ozzy whispers to Danby. “None of us would have done this.” Despite the words, they sound slightly unsure. Danby swallows.

The group look around, unsure, and Danby watches in fear as groups start to from, Bart and Jochi staying near Marguerit and the other person, the Vesper crew stood alone; Roman was still near Ryley, though at least he wasn't staring at everyone in the room as if none of them could be trusted.

Roman sighs after a few seconds of unease settles. "Look, we can't just all accuse each other. We can settle this faster. Who all have been alone since the day Maxim went missing or after?"

A few moments pass, everyone either trying to remember what they've been doing or too scared to speak up. Finally, Jeffrey looks up at Roman, a defiant glint in his eyes. “I've explored the tunnels and caves, like the one we just went into, on my own.”

Following his words, Sam hesitantly adds in, “I was still out alone when Robin and the others left.”

Roman nods, "So was I." He adds, though he sounded much more defensive now.

Danby hesitates for a moment. As much as he hated to, Jochi and Milo were staring at each other, silently asking the other to speak first. He takes a quiet steadying breath, "Milo, Jochi and I split up when he found those ice caves a while ago." Ozzy stares at him, and Danby makes sure to not meet their gaze. No gazes turn to look at him more than the others. Danby tries to build up more courage. He has to tell everyone about Maxim. He has to.

Roman quietly includes Ryley to the list of names, alongside himself, Jochi, Milo, Jeffrey, Sam, and Danby.

The group slightly relaxes at the slightly smaller list, but now quiet suspicious murmurs were starting to stir around the base. Danby hears his own name murmured, and leans further against Ozzy. At least they were certain it was him. At least he could try to come up with something to defend himself. He'd only split up with them for a few minutes. Jochi and Milo would back him up if they needed to.

“Wait,” Milo starts, and eyes turn to him, “It couldn’t have been Sam. Jeffrey and Robin had to take a SeaTruck to get that far out so fast, and if Bart found him even further away from our base, she couldn’t have made it all that way and back before them.”

There’s quiet murmurings for a moment, and Danby sees Robin and Sam look just a bit more relieved.

Ozzy hums from beside him. “It couldn’t have been Roman either, he was only alone during that same time.”

_I’m still on the list._ Danby tries not to think too much about it. He knows that he could defend himself, that others could defend him. _But I'm still on the list._

“Ryley only ran off alone once, and he was followin’ me then,” Marguerit adds in, “He wasn’t anywhere near Maxim. He’s fine.”

Ozzy lets out a breath of relief next to Danby.

“Then that leaves Jeff, Milo, Jochi, and Danby.” Robin murmurs.

Jeffrey snorts. “Screw it, I think I know who it is." he says, with a glance at Ryley that can't be read. "He's already been lying to you since you met him. I can't keep it secret any longer with this news."

Danby tenses. _No._ He feels dizzy. There was no way this was happening.

Milo stares at Jeffrey in confusion, though Emily nudges him with no distrust in her eyes whatsoever. Jochi blinks in surprise, and Roman and Bart share a look. Avery and Ozzy’s eyes are on Danby. He feels like he’s being suffocated.

Jeffrey turns to look at him.

Danby stares back.

Ozzy's gaze was still on him. Danby wishes they weren't there right now.

“Anything to say?” Jeffrey taunts, but Danby’s words all die on his tongue. “You know Alterra's databanks archive all your logs? Anything you’ve written since you’ve crashed, anything you’ve recorded. Danby happened to have written one admitting to cheating and lying through all of his schooling. At best, he could maybe get cold medicine a little faster than the rest of us.”

Danby feels as if time is slowing to a halt as Jeffrey glares down at him. Ozzy stands up, and Danby looks up at them in fear as Jeffrey coldly turns his gaze to them, but before either say anything to the other Roman speaks up, "That has nothing to do with this!" he snaps, "Nor can you prove that."

Jeffrey turns to him. "It has everything to do with this!" he insists, "It was written on his file. Maxim read it, so did Sam and Robin." He glances at the two as he names them for a moment, and both look uncomfortable, though neither say anything against Jeffrey. "He wasn't the only one to write about it, either. Two others wrote down an awful lot. I think their names were Beatrix and Micah?"

Roman doesn't reply. Ozzy somehow looks even angrier at the mention of their names. Bart's eyes were full of grief. Jeffrey continues. "They found his PDA, and Beatrix said that it was given to you, and then never seen from again. You make a good friend, maybe, but an awful leader. You let a fake look after your sick and injured."

A few whispers were circling the habitat. Emily and Milo were glaring at Roman, a hurt expression in their eyes. Danby can hardly believe that they were starting to turn against him. _Roman's your friend! Jeffrey's the one tricking you!_ Yet he knew his thoughts wouldn't be heard by any of them. He shakes his head, desperately hoping this was a nightmare that he'd wake up from in a few moments.

"That's not all!" Jeffrey continues, turning away from Roman, still standing alone next to Ryley's bed. As the others turn to look back to Jeffrey, Roman looks utterly defeated, and Danby can hardly stop himself from crying, guilt and fear sticking to his chest. "Our SeaTruck went missing while we were down there. I had tried to convince Danby not to, but he took off with it, and Ryley and I were attacked by the leviathans that were driven closer to the cave entrance. He suggested we go down to those caves, and two of us almost were killed. He didn't want this secret to get out, and he was willing to kill to keep it." His gaze ends up at Danby again, and there's a glint in his eyes that Danby can't read.

_That was all your idea!_ He wants to yell. _Why can’t any of you tell he’s just pining it on me?_

“No!” Ozzy still determinedly defends him. “If Roman knew practically since we crashed, why would he have done nothing to him this entire time and then suddenly decide to kill four people?!” Their voice is bitter, and they look around the room as if challenging anyone to argue with them.

But with rising horror, Danby realizes that the group was starting to split into half, glares and mutters behind thrown across to each other.

Emily and Milo were glaring at Danby, clearly feeling betrayed. Sam and Robin seemed to be leaning more towards their friend's story, Marguerit was muttering something to Bart, who seemed torn on who to believe.

Roman didn't seem to believe a thing of what Jeffrey had said, and Jochi had come over to stand beside him, giving Danby and Ozzy a slight nod. Avery had said nothing yet, but he was still standing near Danby and Ozzy. To his surprise, the person he still didn't know the name of seemed to be trying to convince Marguerit and Bart to side with him.

“He has.. good points, Ozzy.” Bart quietly says.

“He’s the only one that has so much against him!” Emily snaps.

“I can’t believe we lived with him for so long,” Milo adds.

“He did run off with our SeaTruck, and Ryley nearly died..” Robin whispers.

Roman glares at the four, "You're only basing this off his degree. It has nothing to do with this conversation. Who do you really think would be more likely to do something like this?"

“We can’t just let a stranger decide stuff for us,” Jochi agrees. "We hardly know Jeffrey."

"Well, I know him better than Danby, and I know he wouldn't kill someone," Sam argues, and Robin hesitantly murmurs agreement, though she looks guiltily over at Danby, as if she didn't actually want to accuse him.

"Either way, what are we supposed to do once we find out? Just ask them not to do it again?" Avery finally adds.

"Usually, only one of two things happen to murderers," Marguerit replies, "I don't see any prisons around here."

Emily looks up her, finally looking more worried and less angry. "Are you suggesting we kill them? Because they killed somebody?"

Marguerit shrugs. "Do you have a better idea?"

Emily doesn't answer, though now she and Milo weren't saying anything to each other, and most of the group didn't defend or accuse anyone anymore.

Jeffrey rolls his eyes. "Why should we feel remorse for someone who already killed one person, and tried to kill more? They have it coming."

Ozzy glares at him. "Those words are gonna come back to haunt you." They mutter. Sam glares back at them.

"You don't even have any evidence! You're just defending him because you've known him longer."

Jochi scoffs. "Is that not exactly what you're doing?"

Within moments, the entire group was arguing again, and Danby stands, walking closer to Ozzy.

"We can't just live with a murderer!" Emily snaps at Avery, who scowls at the words.

"He's _not_ a murderer. Do you believe everything anyone says to you?

Murderer. The word sticks to Danby's head. They think I'm a murderer.

"If you want to kill someone who did nothing, you'll have to kill me, too! I'm not just going to stand by and watch you kill him!" Ozzy was snarling at Jeffery.

Jeffrey just stares coldly back at him. "Then you'll both die. It's not my problem what you choose to do with your own life."

"We are doing _nothing_ to Ozzy!" Roman snaps, finally joining in the argument with the same level of anger as the rest of the group.

Danby stares at Jeffrey for a moment. _How could any of them believe you?_ Ozzy looks slightly taken aback by the comment, and even Emily and Milo had stopped to glance at him.

Almost as if he'd realized what he'd said, Jeffrey takes a step back and looks away. Danby just feels even angrier. How could he look guilty? How _dare_ he? After everything he's done, everything Danby's certain he's still willing to do? How could he dare to look guilty, while half of Danby's friends turn against him? While Ryley lay hardly alive in that same room? While Danby can still vividly remember the sight of Maxim's body?

How could he?

Danby stares at him as he slowly skunks away to the back of the group, out of sight of the arguments, until Danby's broken out of his slowly burning terror and hatred by a loud cough. He glances over to Bart and Marguerit's friend.

"Look, why don't we just lock each of them in a separate room until we figure it out?" He suggests.

Begrudgingly, most of the group seems to agree. Danby tries not to hold it against any of the others as they still stare suspiciously at him. It wasn't their fault that Jeffrey was lying. He would have been forced to choose if he'd been in any of their places. He just wishes they hadn't turned against him so quickly.

"That's fine and all, but where the hell did Jeffrey go?" Emily asks after a moment.

When only silence follows, Robin shrugs, "Must have left. We'll deal with him when he gets back."

Milo stares at her and then the hatch out of the habitat for a moment.

Walking back to one of the other rooms, Danby hears Ozzy muttering under their breath. Danby has no idea what to say to them. He lets out a long sigh. Surely the worst was over now? He just needed to wait for Ryley to wake up, and tell him _everything._ He would have to believe him.

With a terrible sinking feeling, Danby realizes his life depended on whether or not Ryley woke up. Whether or not he believed him.

_No._ He thinks desperately. _They wouldn't actually kill me. They wouldn't._

But then, if they weren't willing to, what would they do about Jeffrey?

By the time Danby was sitting on the floor of one of the rooms, feeling utterly miserable, he realizes that Bart's friend and Milo were lingering around the entrance, though neither looked remotely comfortable. It takes him a second longer to realize that they were guards. He glances at Ozzy again, who had fallen silent now, staring at one of the walls as if it were the most interesting thing on the planet.

Danby sighs. "Sometimes I wish we never came anywhere near this planet."

Ozzy snorts. "Only sometimes?"

Danby winces. "I'm sor-"

Ozzy turns towards him before he gets a chance to finish, "Are you always hiding something? Why didn't you tell any of us? Better question, why did you tell Roman and not me?"

"I didn't tell Roman, he found out because of my PDA." Danby quickly replies, "And I- I don't know. It never seemed like something that needed to be brought up."

"You didn't think that telling us you illegally got your doctorates was something that needed to be brought up?"

Danby blinks. "None of you are reacting very well, so no, I think this would very much have been better if it were still a secret."

"Why didn't you say anything to defend yourself?!" Ozzy snaps instead, hurt still clearly visible in their gaze.

"I didn't think anyone would believe me! Jeffrey and Robin had the same story, and I have maybe Ryley to back up one or two things I could have said? Saying anything would have just made it worse." Danby answers sharper than he intended. Why was Ozzy turning against him now? Did _nobody_ believe he was innocent? He hastily continues, "I _did_ take the SeaTruck, I've been to the caves where Maxim was killed, and then I said I had no idea where the others had gone. How do I salvage that if everyone already thinks I did it?"

Ozzy stares at him for a moment before looking away again. "We're figure out something. If Ryley can vouch for you, then we'll wait for him to wake up." They murmur.

Danby looks at the floor. _"If_ he wakes up," he whispers to himself.

"You've been to the cave where Maxim was killed?" Milo asks, breaking Danby out of his rapidly spiraling thoughts.

He shifts nervously. "When we found that giant leviathan in the ice. There was a cave at the end of the tunnel I went down.." he trails off, unsure of how he could possibly get Milo to believe him. "I- I saw his body then."

Ozzy stares at him. "You found a body nearly a week ago and never said anything until now?" They didn't sound particularly angry anymore, just exasperated, but Danby still shrugs awkwardly.

"I freaked out. Who reacts rationally to something like that?"

Milo shakes his head. "But you only went there once, right? That one time we found that cave?" he insists. Ozzy turns to look at the two standing at the doorway.

Danby nods. "The only time I ever left the habitat since was today."

Milo stares at him for a moment. "Holy shit, it wasn't you," there's a growing horror in his gaze that ruins the momentary relief Danby felt. "You didn't just freak out, you saw Jeffrey down there, didn't you?"

Danby blinks. "How do you-"

Milo continues speaking before Danby finishes his sentence, "You were acting weird ever since, you kept disappearing with Jeffrey, Ryley kept trying to wander off with you, and Paul says that that cave was clearly being used by someone, like a research station or something. You were only there _once._ You certainly didn't have any materials to build a damn _lab._ Jeffrey knew you knew, because you must have seen him down there. Why are we all so stupid? God, I feel like such an asshole now. Some of them wanted to kill you! We could have _killed you_ over this!"

Danby opens his mouth to reply at the same moment that a head pops around the corner of the hallway. "Why are you yelling?" Emily asks, "Did something happen?" her gaze flickers around the room before resting on Milo again.

"It wasn't Danby. Jeffrey killed Maxim!" he answers quickly. Emily blinks at him.

"How do you know?"

"Many reasons! Many good reasons! Why else would he just leave in the middle of being accused of murder? He was just passing the blame onto Danby!"

Emily looks slightly taken aback. "That's a big change in opinion from a few minutes ago," she replies with a glance at Danby, "Maybe you should list some of those reasons?"

Paul rolls his eyes. "We will, obviously. But someone needs to track down Jeffrey."

"We should have sent someone to track him down the second we realized he left." Ozzy adds in.

Emily ignores the comment, instead gesturing with her head back towards the main room of the base. "Fine, we'll get a group to go. But you should probably be talking to everyone about about this." she looks at Danby again, her neutral expression giving Danby no clue what she was thinking whatsoever. Did she not believe Milo? Was she feeling guilty for blaming Danby first? She turns away again before he think too much on it.

He rises to his feet, his legs still shaky, his stomach still churning, and he honestly feels like he couldn't walk at all. But he didn't have much choice anymore, did he?

Danby's thoughts feel as if they're speeding fast enough to make him dizzy. Milo and Ozzy knew about Jeffrey now. And Ryley and Paul did, too. He just needed to convince the others. Yet, he still feels entirely unsure. What would happen once they knew it was Jeffrey and he came back? Would they really kill him? Danby's stomach twists even more. He had no interest on being in so much as the same galaxy as Jeffrey, let alone living in the same habitat, but he didn't want more people to die. He's dealt with far more death than necessary already.

He should have just never went down that tunnel. If he had never known about Maxim, all of this would never have happened. He should have just never went to that cave in the first place, should have never went to this part of the planet at all. They'd gained nothing but death and the Kharra, _again._

Danby shakes his head. It'd work itself out. Everything always works out. It always had so far, at least. If it hadn't, he'd be dead by now.

He'd be fine. They'd all be fine.

He remembers Maxim's body. He remembers being told Beatrix and Micah were left in the Aurora. He remembers when he found out only seven of the Aurora's crew were left. He remembers Jeffrey telling him he knew a different way out of those caverns, to take the SeaTruck alone so he could lead the others to safety. He remembers thinking that Jeffrey had only been putting Danby in danger, that the others would be safe. He remembers seeing Ryley again later that same day, this day.

It was either move forward, or die. He was not ready to see more death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeffrey: i've connected the dots  
> ozzy: you didn't connect shit  
> jeffrey: i've connected them


	16. Chapter 15

A blizzard was steadily forming over the sky, blocking out all traces of sunlight. More and more snow and ice was always piling onto the ground, freezing over the surface of water closest to land. Snowflakes fly into his eyes, and he blinks rapidly to try to clear the stinging away. He should be in the warmth of a habitat right now, not struggling to push each leg through snow that was up to his waist by this point.

_ You’ve done the right thing. _ A voice supplies in his head, a voice that he was _really_ starting to hate.

“Someone who’s done the right thing wouldn’t be running away in the middle of a damn blizzard.” he mutters aloud. He knows none of this was the right thing. The past two weeks he’s done nothing but wrong things. Horrible choices.

_ It will be better for all of us once I have my own vessel again. _

He knows that’s true, at least. He wouldn’t have to worry about Alterra, or Robin and Sam. Everything he’s done has been for this vessel. For Al-An. For their safety.

Yet he can’t stop the churn of regret in his stomach. The knowledge that he’s done wrong. He can’t trick himself into thinking any better, no matter what he’s told Danby or Ryley; he _knows_ he had choices. He never needed to do anything to either of them, he never needed to lie. Why did he? He has no answer to the question.  


He keeps trudging through the snow, feeling as if the cold in his bones would never go away. The second he spots the cave entrance, he rushes as much as he can through it. It wasn’t any warmer, but at least he was out of the wind and snow. He stomps his feet to try to get rid of the excess still stuck to his legs.

“How are the others?” he asks as he travels through the dark. The small spaces never bothered him, but the silence struck right into his heart today.

_ Figuring it out. _ Al-An responds. He doesn’t stop walking.

“That quickly?” he had half expected them to figure it out eventually, but he thought he’d have more time than this.

_ You had not convinced all of them. Others have defenses for him, and against you. _

“I get it. I fucked up again.”

_ That was not what I was implying, but yes, I suppose one could say that. _

He tries to ignore how he winces at the words.

He finally reaches the cave where Maxim’s body still lay. He stares at the corpse for a few moments. He hadn’t felt much more than bold determination when he did it. The pit in his stomach seems to grow deeper. Did he really do this? He didn’t even have the excuse that he wasn’t thinking. He’d planned it for days. Cold settles into his bones more and more the longer he stays in the cave systems.

He turns away from Maxim. He couldn’t go back, and he only had wanted his friends and himself to survive. How could that be so wrong? He picks up Maxim’s old PDA, something none of them had really used since they crashed, and scrolls through some of the files.

Maxim had access to all of the Aurora crew’s logs, many archived from before the crash even happened. He glances at a list of names. Of the crewmembers assumed dead, of the most important ones worth finding. He could turn in Miles and Keen, make a life for himself somewhere far from Alterra. No, he’s done enough to the Aurora crew. All he needed to do was tell them the Degasi crew still lived. Alterra would be too busy to notice the Vesper survivors then, and they’d all be okay. Marguerit would probably be arrested, Bart would unhappily continue on his family’s company, and Paul’s name would fall into obscurity. He pauses for a moment. All he'd need to do was save something written from this PDA. Someone would find the message eventually. But h e’d ruin their lives if he told Alttera.

He lets out a shaky breath. The Degasi were not as important to him as the people he’s known for years now. His crew, and his discoveries, were worth more than three people who’d already lived longer than any person could ask for on this planet.

Alterra was coming anyways, he’s sure of it. It was either him, or the group that caused this mess to begin with. He knew which choice he’d make. Didn't he?  


He pockets the PDA, and walks back over to Maxim. He was stupid to not have done something with him before. Nobody else should have ever known, nobody but Danby should have had any clue where his body even would be. Danby never should have known either. He grabs an ankle and drags him along back out of the cave. He doesn’t dare stop until he hears the howling of a snowstalker, and drops the leg without a second thought. He doesn’t look back as he hears the heavy footsteps approaching and then slow to a stop.

_ Looking after yourself first is the only way to survive.  _ Al-An comments after a few minutes of silence. For the first time, he thinks they sounded almost uncertain. He ignores it. There was no room for uncertainty anymore. Al-An was just listening to Robin too much lately. They knew where their priorities lay, and it was with themself only.

None of this would have happened if Al-An cared about anyone else. They would never have allowed Jeffrey to do all of this if they truly cared. They could have stopped him.

_ There is still time to fix this. _

Jeffrey pauses for just a moment. He didn’t recognize that voice. Was it still Al-An? Then he scoffs and continues walking, knowing exactly where he was going next. It certainly wasn’t towards the Aurora survivor’s base.

_ You cannot run from this. _

“Go away!” he snaps.

_ You are only becoming more like Maxim. Every step you take is shaping who you are. _

“Looking out for the innocent and doing what it takes to ensure the bare minimum of our survival does not make me anything like that greedy, soulless bastard!” he steps faster, as if he could outrun the words. He was _not_ Maxim. How could anyone think he was anything like him?

_ They are coming for you, _ the voice warns,  _ You should not expect mercy. They don’t think any more of you than your actions. _

“Then they’ll have more to judge me for by the time they find me.” he hisses through his teeth. The wind burns his cheeks and his nose, and he can still hear snowstalkers howling in the distance, can faintly pick up the ground shaking as an ice worm passes from nearby. He doesn’t stop.

_ Do not say that you were not warned. You will regret this decision. We know it is only you causing this. _

His ears fall silent so suddenly that he shakes his head to try to get rid of the muffled feeling. As much as he tried to convince the voice that he didn’t care, his heart was pounding, and the wind whipping into his face only made it even more difficult to breathe.

He ducks into another cave. He was not claustrophobic, he did not mind the dark. Yet he desperately wants to leave as soon as he takes only a single step. He takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. He’d be walking for a while.

He remembers Sam’s face when he’d told her that he couldn’t find Maxim. He remembers Robin panicking when he’d breached the surface of the water with Ryley’s unconscious form in one arm. He remembers Maxim’s face when he’d first picked up his knife down in that cave.

He should have gotten rid of Maxim’s body sooner. He should have left Ryley down in the water. He’d just couldn’t convince himself to go through with it. He couldn’t let himself kill Ryley; he’d just hoped he’d bleed out before they got back.

He’s not sure if he’d been a fool to let him survive, or extremely grateful that he did.

Jeffrey walks through the dark in silence, his own footsteps and breathes the only noises that could be picked up.

It wasn’t over yet. He just needed to stay out of sight until they went back to the part of the planet that they started out on. They’d either leave or die to the Kharra before long. With a pang, Jeffrey feels as if he could hardly handle any of this.

They’d all die, wouldn’t they? He just wanted Alterra to leave them alone! Everything he'd been certain he thought through was falling apart.

He shakes his head. There wasn’t anything he could do now, except keep walking forward.

And that’s exactly what he does. He walks, and walks, and walks.

* * *

He finally reaches the Precursor base. He's not entirely sure of why it's here or what it can do; but Al-An's directed him to it, so it must be useful in some way. He stares around at the walls, some of the designs glowing like the other precursor architecture, some of it cracked and dull, creating dark corners that made Jeffrey feel cold and uncomfortably aware of how alone he was. He's not sure he can even count on returning to see Robin and Sam anymore.

Jeffrey turns to the glowing.. _thing_ in the middle. "This is it, then?" he asks, reaching for an object in his bag, something shaped almost like a deer's skull, that he'd picked up at the other base. "All this trouble for something you could have just told Robin to do?"

_ Robin is too concerned about her sister to listen to me most the time. _ Al-An replies with the same uncaring tone they almost always used. He wonders if they were more open to Ryley or Robin. He quickly dismisses the thought. So what if they were? Surely they think the most of him anyways; it was Jeffrey who would be the most responsible for giving them a new vessel.

He stares down at the skull for a moment. Was he really feeling jealous over how much an _alien_ talked to someone else? He wasn’t friends with Al-An. He didn’t want to be friends with Al-An. Yet with angry resignation, he thinks that they might be the only other one willing to talk to him at all anymore. He isn’t sure if he feels horribly lonely yet, or if his emotions were numbing into quiet acceptance. He’d destroyed everything he had left, and soon even Al-An would be leaving him.

There was no point in thinking about it. He couldn’t go back.

_I shall direct Robin here once the other humans calm down enough,_ Al-An continues, _I suggest you stay out of sight._

“For how long?” he murmurs as he sets the object down onto a square platform almost as tall as he was.

_ It is not likely they will forget their grudge. Humans hold onto emotions for a long time, don’t they? _

Jeffrey isn’t sure if it was meant to be a joke or a comment aimed at him. He certainly doesn’t feel so much as an ounce of laughter; Al-An’s tone gave away no sense of emotion either. He hesitates for a moment, staring around the room. “I’m not sure we’ve made the best choices,” he finally manages to choke out.

_ I will have a vessel before the cold season ends. Alterra will never bother you or the other humans again. This is what you wanted, isn’t it? _

Jeffrey hums, thinking carefully. “Yes, but-”

_ If it is what you wanted, then we have achieved that goal. Your choices were the right ones. _

Jeffrey wishes they had never gotten a hold of any of their minds. _“My_ choices?” he angrily repeats, “They were _your_ ideas. You acted as if it were the only way.”

Al-An is quick to reply. _Not all of them. I did not tell you to do anything to Danby. Everything regarding him was your own doing._

“I wasn’t left much other choice but to blame him!” he snaps, “Because someone convinced me I had to murder Maxim to save myself!”

_You could have not listened to me._ Al-An replies coldly, and Jeffrey could finally hear emotion, could finally have some hint as to what they were thinking. He feels strangely anxious to know it was anger. _You made your own choices. I merely gave suggestions. How could you blame me when I’ve done nothing more than help you?_

Jeffrey isn’t sure how to reply to that. Al-An had a point, didn’t they? He shakes his head, his words coming out slowly. “You told me we’d die if Maxim got back to Alterra. You told me everything would be for nothing if anybody else found out. You told me I had to stop Ryley or Robin and Sam would never be trusted by the others. How is that just making suggestions?”

There is nothing more than silence to his question. “I cannot go back to Alterra, and I can’t live here anymore.” he whispers to himself. His options were running out. He’s not sure if he’s ever felt so terrified in his life.

_ You have done all I needed you to. Don’t expect me to bother speaking with you again. Ryley shall figure out the cure for the Kharra, Robin shall finish this vessel. You are no longer needed. _

Jeffrey blinks. _No longer needed?_ “But what will I-”

_ I have no concern over what happens to you. I wish you a peaceful death, whenever you receive it. _

There’s a faint buzzing in his ears, and then an eerie quiet. “You can’t just leave me,” Jeffrey speaks aloud, his voice echoing around the chamber. “You promised you would help me! You only gave me more problems!”

He glances wildly around the room, and reaches for the skull, but something sends a sharp shock through his arm when he tries. He flinches back with a hiss of pain. “Come back!” he calls to the empty room. No voice replies.

Why had he ever listened? Al-An was never his friend. Of course they didn’t care what became of Jeffrey. He was just being used to create the damn vessel.

Everyone had turned against him.

He’d be killed whenever they found him. He couldn’t hide from a group of a dozen people forever, contained to this small part of the planet. What if they never left until they were sure he was dead? They were going to kill him. He was going to die.

Unless he killed them first.

The thought sends a jolt of panic in his chest. He didn’t want to kill anybody. When had he started to become so quick to think of it as a solution?

But he had no friends, no allies, no powers; he had nothing the others had. He was utterly alone, and most of the group was already suggesting they get rid of Maxim’s murderer the same way he’d gotten rid of Maxim himself. The only way Jeffrey could ensure his survival was if he got to them first.

With a shaky breath, he takes a step back. He felt sick to his stomach.

He’d hide for as long as he could. If they hadn’t left in two weeks time, he would be sure they were staying only to find him.

He'd get rid of the Degasi survivors first. They were the entire reason anybody crashed here at all. Jeffrey slowly makes his way back out of the precursor base. Everything could have been prevented. The Aurora, the Vesper, the all too many deaths, the suffering, the struggling. It _all_ could have been prevented. The Torgals would be his first warning to leave.

Jeffrey clenches his jaw tight enough that his teeth ache. Grief and guilt and _fear_ is all that keeps his feet moving.

He was a good person. He was a good friend. Al-An had lied to him, and now everyone had turned against him. He knew they wouldn’t understand; but he doesn’t blame them. He wouldn’t be quick to forgive a murderer either. But he could never go back. He _has_ to be a good person. How could he not be a good friend?

He was already planning the deaths of three more people. Good people don’t do that.

When he finally reaches the surface again, the blizzard is still heavy, hail falling harshly to the ground.

He wants to go back. He wants to explain, wants to apologize, wants to go back and do anything and everything different. He was wrong. Everything he’s done was _wrong._

He is not a good person.

He cannot go back.

He walks into the snowstorm and picks a direction at random. He’d build a SeaTruck and build someplace small, hidden in the deepest part of the ocean he could find. He felt too sick with himself. He would never go through with harming any of the Degasi, no matter how much he blamed any of them. He still feels haunted by Maxim and Ryley. If they found him, he’d let them kill him. He had nothing else to work towards anymore. His friends had certainly turned against him by now. His family were far off, back at Alterra. Al-An had his vessel ready, and had abandoned him.

His chest aches. He’d been nothing but a pawn. How hadn’t he realized? He should have just spoken to Robin and Sam. He should have tried harder. He should have been better. How could he have been so _stupid?_

He could only hope to hide long enough to be forgotten about.

He could only hope to get the peaceful death Al-An had wished him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeffrey: am i a good person? what makes a good person? i've only wanted to look after myself and the people i care about, to protect them against others who only wanted to hurt us. does that make a bad person, or a good person? is there no gray area? have i only done bad things? who is the one that decides what is right and what is wrong? is it ourselves? is it years of behavior pushed onto us by society? is it something else? who could ever even know?  
> al-an: for the love of GOD shut the FUCK up serik
> 
> JASNGKJNAKGJN ANYWAYS THANKS FOR READING AS ALWAYS I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH HAVE A GOOD NIGHT OR MORNING OR WHATEVER DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE AND WHEN UR READING THSI <3


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